Build Me Up, Tear Me Down
by My ROFLcopter Just Went BOOM
Summary: When 4 year old Harry Potter is thrown into his cupboard after asking about his parents he wishes to be somewhere else, somewhere better. When he wakes up he finds himself in Narnia, during the Golden Age. This changes everything.
1. Prologue

Hello and welcome to the prologue of my Harry Potter/Chronicles of Narnia story.

**Disclaimer: Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. **

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Going to school for the first time was a scary experience, Harry had never been in a room with so many other children before. Even when Aunt Petunia had dragged him to the shops he'd been too focused on getting things right to notice all the people. The other children were nice to him as well, apart from Dudley and the boys he'd made friends with but the teacher always told Dudley off if he pushed Harry over. Uncle Vernon got mad when Dudley told him that the teacher had told him off because of Harry, usually Harry would get a smack or get shut in his cupboard without dinner.

He'd been in his Reception class for about a month before the subject of family came up. Miss Timmins, his teacher, turned to the class and told them that this morning they should draw a picture of their family. Most of the class put crayon to paper immediately but Harry stared at his piece nervously. He knew he lived with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and now he knew that wasn't normal, most people lived with their mum and dad. On the first day, when Miss Timmins had read the register for the first time, she'd called him 'Harry Potter'. That must mean his parents were the Potters.

Thoroughly curious Harry abandoned his blank paper to go and play with the blocks. Miss Timmins didn't press too much when he said he just didn't want to do it and he got to play with the blocks for ages by himself while all the other children finished their pictures. The thought of finding out who his parents were gnawed at him all through the day, even as he ate the mostly vegetable lunch Aunt Petunia had packed. When he and Dudley got home he'd ask Aunt Petunia about his mum and dad, maybe she'd even have a photograph of them.

Home time didn't come quick enough for Harry. Uncle Vernon was waiting impatiently by the gate, the car parked close by. Dudley ran to his father with Harry following quickly behind - sometimes Uncle Vernon threatened to leave him behind if he was too slow and he didn't know how to walk home. Chuckling at his son Uncle Vernon put Dudley into his booster seat and buckled him in, leaving Harry to scramble into the car and put his seatbelt on himself. The scratchy fabric cut into his neck and he slid around a bit in the seat whenever the car turned a corner, but they weren't in the car that long before they pulled into the driveway.

Harry got out of the car as fast as he could and into the house. Dudley followed with surprising speed because he knew his mother would have biscuits and his shows recorded on video for him to watch. Harry usually got given some manual task to do with Aunt Petunia supervising, since he wasn't allowed to watch cartoons. This would be the perfect time to ask about his mum and dad.

Aunt Petunia had set him to clearing out one of the cupboards and then washing it down while she prepared dinner. Harry waited carefully until she wasn't holding anything and seemed somewhat relaxed.

"Aunt Petunia, can I ask you a question?" Harry said nervously.

"What?" She snapped.

"Who were my mum and dad?" She whirled around to glare down at him, he cringed back.

"Vernon!" Petunia shrieked. She'd gone paler than normal, almost sickly. Vernon hurried into the kitchen, ruddy faced and looking angry already.

"What's he done, Pet?" Vernon growled.

"The boy asked about his family." Vernon grew redder and grabbed Harry by the ear, twisting it viciously as he dragged the boy out of the kitchen and towards the cupboard.

"Your parents were no-good wastes of space and death was the best thing for them." Vernon's voice raised into a veritable roar as he cuffed Harry about the head, wrenched the cupboard door open, threw the small boy inside and slammed the door shut again, locking it firmly.

Inside his cupboard Harry curled in on himself, one hand rubbing his sore ear, and started to cry. Why didn't his Aunt and Uncle love him? Had his parents really been bad?

Harry pressed his face into the thin mattress to stifle the sound of his sobs and to soak up some of the tears that were now making his face itch. He'd get shouted at if Uncle Vernon heard him crying and Dudley would laugh at him. Still crying Harry pulled the blanket over himself and curled up tighter as his stomach grumbled. He tried to remember what story Miss Timmins had read at story time that day. He couldn't, having been too busy thinking about his parents to pay attention.

Half-asleep, exhausted by his crying jag, Harry's thoughts fell to a land where everything was green and all the people were happy and maybe, just maybe, someone was nice to him.

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**I've planned this out in its entirety and it looks to be fairly long. I'm hoping for regular updates and I'm going to try and stay a couple of chapters ahead as a buffer.**

**There's going to be a longer A/N at the beginning of the first real chapter outlining some stuff I think needs to be said.**

**Till then, buh-bye.**


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions and Lunch

**Hi again. **

**So here's the longer AN I mentioned last chapter. **

**Both fandoms I'm crossing have multiple interpretations. I feel the need to make it clear now that I'm not going to be using a lot of the changes the movies have made (this applies more to Narnia than to Harry Potter). However, especially for Narnia, some of the stylistic elements from the more recent movies and the BBC TV series will be incorporated. Mostly in the case of the Narnian creatures (which I feel they did an excellent job CGing) the more recent movie is the best analogue for what I want the non-human Narnians to look like (although the dryads are totally different because they sucked but whatever).**

**I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank the people who put this story on alert, added it to favourites, put it in their archives, read it and especially the people who reviewed the prologue. I wasn't expecting that much of a response.**

**I'm hoping to update as regularly as I can, although that will depend entirely on college and real life. I am sorry for the long wait, but that seems to be life right now.**

**Disclaimer: Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Various original characters are mine. **

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Harry wasn't sure what woke him. It might have been the light breeze tugging at his clothes, it might have been the distant sound of water, it might have been the feeling of being watched. Or it might have been the comically loud whispers coming from right above him.

He opened his eyes with a start to find, not his dark and cramped cupboard, but sunlight filtering through trees and everything around him green and alive. There were also three pairs of eyes staring at him, and none of them were human.

"It's awake" Harry stared at the stag who had just spoken. Animals weren't supposed to talk.

"Are you well?" A young man who looked human until Harry spotted the horns emerging from his curly blond hair and his furry ears. When Harry sat up he saw that the young man had the legs of a goat.

"Yes, thank you" Harry said nervously.

"Would you be a Son of Adam?" The man-goat said.

"I-I don't know what that is" Harry bit his lip.

"Are you human?" The stag asked, Harry's wide eyes returned to the imposing creature.

"Yes" Harry said.

The stag and the creature retreated a bit to talk to the third strange creature, a man with the lower body of a horse. If he strained a bit Harry could hear their conversation.

"We should take him to Cair Paravel" the man-goat said.

"Can we be sure he is not a spy?" The man-horse said, looking suspiciously at Harry.

"He said he was human and he does not have the countenance of a Black Dwarf. Besides, one of such small stature could only be a human calf. I agree with Lironus, he should be taken to Cair Paravel and shown to Their Majesties" the stag said.

"Redane," the man-goat turned to the man-horse, "would you bear the human to Cair Paravel? I would ask you Ruservus," the man-goat nodded to the stag, "but it has been my study that humans seem to require something to hold on to when they ride and you have only your antlers." For a stag's antlers are his pride and joy and he will not suffer them to be touched by human or Beast.

"Is that an order Lironus?" Harry cringed at the man-horse's tone.

"Must I make it one? Would you not bear him for less?" The man-goat sounded far nicer Harry decided.

"Centaurs do not bear riders, something you well know!" The man-horse's voice raised in anger, front hooves pawing agitatedly at the ground.

"Another human has arrived in Narnia and you would not allow us to proceed with all speed to Cair Paravel because of your pride?" The stag admonished, the man-horse quieted and bowed his head.

"He will not be much of a burden to bear" the man-horse said quietly, trotting around the other two to approach Harry carefully.

Wary of the large hooves Harry scrambled to his feet and gazed up at the creature. It was far taller than Uncle Vernon and Harry had to crane his head right back to look at its face.

"Human foal, I am Redane the centaur and I would bear you to Cair Paravel" the centaur bent down as far as he could go and Harry watched him with fearful eyes.

"Okay" Harry squeaked. He had no idea who these creatures were or where they were taking him but Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia always got angry if he was even a little bit slow at going somewhere they wanted him to, so it was best if he just went with these strange people. "Um. How do I get on you?"

Redane hid his grimace as he sank down to the ground and allowed the human foal to climb on gracelessly, little flailing feet kicking him in the ribs several times during the process, and cling to the back of his tunic. He levered himself back up onto his hooves and turned to Lironus and Ruservus.

"To Cair Paravel" Lironus declared, breaking into the springing run all fauns had. Ruservus roared and lept after him, moving easily through the trees. He moved off a little slower, conscious of the human on his back and how difficult it seemed for humans to stay on a horse. Although he hadn't seen it personally the Horses had mentioned just how much Their Majesties fell off the first few times they tried to ride, and Their Majesties were rather bigger than this human foal.

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Harry had never been on a horse, or a centaur, before and it couldn't be said that he learnt much about horsemanship during the intervening three and a half hour journey. Just that it was very bumpy and hurt after a while. About an hour in, when his legs really started to hurt from straddling Redane's back, he discovered he could sit more comfortably with his legs folded. That had the added advantage of keeping him wedged between the strap holding Redane's swords on and the centaur's torso.

The mix of walking and jogging had eaten up the miles between Beruna and Cair Paravel without leaving any of them exhausted. Negotiating their way through the forests had been easy enough but as they approached the castle they hit the broad, treeless road leading up to it. The Moles had spent weeks ensuring easy access by carefully digging up and replanting trees to clear a path.

"Hold on tight little human" Redane warned Harry, who clutched even tighter at the tunic in front of him as the centaur sped up into a gallop. The gait was bumpier than before but more like the plastic rocking horse in the play area than the jolting rhythm it had been before.

Lironus and Ruservus were running full pelt to keep up with the centaur as they headed into the city and towards the castle, earth changing abruptly into flagstone streets. Narnians dodged out of the way of the three charging towards the castle, understanding that it must be an errand of great importance for such a hasty entrance. They slowed as they reached the castle proper and Harry's face nearly slammed into Redane's back, too busy gaping at his surroundings and the strange creatures they had passed on the way in. Outside a large pair of double doors they came to a complete stop and Redane once again went to the ground to allow Harry to slide off of him.

Harry's legs buckled the moment his feet hit the ground and he found himself sitting down unexpectedly. He had to scramble backwards to avoid being stepped on as Redane heaved himself to his hooves again. His legs, which had been going numb, were now prickling uncomfortably as he tried to stand and nearly fell over again, stumbling into Ruservus' leg and clinging to it for stability.

"Sorry," Harry said, looking up at the stag.

"No apology necessary" Ruservus said.

Presently another faun came trotting around a corner from another courtyard looking curious.

"Lironus, your patrol was supposed to be out for a day more. What has brought you back so soon?"

"We found something that their Majesties should see in the woods near Beruna and returned immediately" Lironus said. Redane, realising that he had been blocking Harry from view, moved back so that the newcomer could see Harry. The faun gasped.

"Aslan's mane, another Son of Adam! Their Majesties will certainly want to meet him. I shall take you to them."

"Many thanks Tumnus." Lironus said.

As they headed off around the castle to the gardens Harry began to worry. He knew that the Queen of England was a woman, Uncle Vernon made everyone watch her make a speech at Christmas, so what would the Majesties of a country of strange creatures be? Would it want to eat him?

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It was a truly beautiful summer day, so beautiful that the Pevensies had decided to take a late lunch out into the gardens. They'd been going over some new trade agreements sent over from Archenland inside and the room had just gotten too stuffy. A party from Archenland would be journeying to Cair Paravel in a couple of weeks to ratify the new agreements and all four siblings wanted to understand what they were getting into. Not that King Lune would try and get something past them, he was one of the few adults who had taken them seriously when they had first ascended to the throne.

Lucy was the first to look up and see Tumnus coming into the garden followed by a Stag, another faun and a centaur. The sheen of sweat on the newcomers didn't bode well, if they'd had to hurry back here then they couldn't be bringing good news. Although it had been four years since the defeat of the Witch little pockets of her supporters still popped up from time to time. She nudged Edmund, who was sitting closest to her on the blanket, and a moment later they were all focused on the approaching creatures.

"Your majesties," Tumnus gave a small bow, "a patrol sent out to the west have found something interesting near Beruna." He produced Harry from where the small boy had been hiding behind Redane. "Another Son of Adam has entered Narnia." Harry wouldn't meet the Pevensies' eyes but he felt them watching him, the little hairs on the back of his neck prickling uncomfortably. He focused on his socked feet, wiggling his toes and shifting a little.

"He's so small," Lucy breathed, "he must be far younger than we were when Aslan brought us here."

It was Susan who acted first, moving forward so she could kneel in front of the little boy. Harry looked up at her warily and she smiled back at him.

"Hallo, what's your name?" Susan asked gently.

"Harry," he mumbled, "Harry Potter." She noticed that he was twisting his fingers in the hem of what must be his school jumper.

"It's nice to meet you Harry, I'm Susan. These are my brothers, Peter and Edmund, and my sister Lucy," Harry glanced quickly at the two young men and the other girl, surprised at their welcoming smiles, and gave a shy wave. "Do you remember where you came from, before you were here?" Susan continued.

"My cupboard," Harry said quietly, looking back down at his feet.

Susan's shock plastered itself all over her face but she kept quiet, Peter and Edmund's grins dropped and they looked grim but Lucy let out a little gasp and clapped a hand over her mouth. The house in Finchley probably seemed smaller because it was a vague memory but none of them had had to live in a cupboard. Harry looked up and saw the expressions on the Pevensies' faces, his eyes widened in terror and he froze.

As shocked as she was by Harry's little revelation Susan noticed the little boy's terror and went with practicality.

"Well you're in Narnia now, and just in time for a very late lunch too."

"Really?" Harry looked at Susan in wonderment.

"Really, we were out here having a late lunch anyway."

With that settled they retreated back to the large blanket, Lucy asked Tumnus to join them but the faun begged off this particular late lunch since he had already eaten. Once Harry had been given a plate all four siblings began filling it with bits of every dish set out, sandwiches and fruit and cold meat and little cakes. They had all been midway through food themselves so they resumed eating and talking.

After a few tentative nibbles to see whether any of them really did mind him eating their food and finding only encouraging smiles Harry took a real mouthful. He wasn't entirely sure what was in the sandwich but somehow it was the best thing he had ever tasted, he demolished the rest of it and set about the rest of what had been put on his plate.

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**Well that's the end of Chapter 1. I'm pretty happy with it although I did think the general premise sounded a bit like a bad joke, y'know 'A Stag, a faun, a centaur and a little boy walk into a castle'. Actually, to be honest, I really wanted to title the chapter that but then I realised that was dumb. **

**Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner.**

**Ciao**


	3. Chapter 2: How to raise a child

**Thanks for waiting so long guys, so here's three chapters at once. **

**Disclaimer: ****Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Various original characters are mine.**

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Lunch had finished and Harry had been handed over to a Naiad for a bath and some new clothes. The Pevensies waved goodbye to the little boy as he followed the young woman with rushes in her hair into the castle and then turned to look at each other.

"Aslan must have brought him here for a reason," said Lucy, "we have to look after him."

"I don't think any of us contest that Lu," said Edmund, "with clothes like that there's no doubt he's from our world, not just a lost child." They'd only briefly seen children when they visited Archenland and none of them wore school uniforms like the one Harry had on.

"He's so very nervous and polite," said Susan, brushing a strand of her dark hair out of her face, "it's very sweet."

"What he said about the cupboard though, that was jolly strange," Peter said grimly.

"Do you suppose he just plays in the cupboard so much he thinks of it as his?" Lucy asked, receiving smiles from all three of her siblings.

"That's rather wishful thinking Lu, but I hope you're right" Peter said. "So we'll keep Harry with us here?"

"It might stop other countries eyeing us up as heirless rulers" said Edmund. The moment everyone had gotten used to the fact that four siblings were ruling together the thought of heirs had come up. King Lune had advised Peter, as the eldest, to find a nice Archenlandian lady to settle down and have children with. Even some of their own subjects had expressed the same wish, although couched in slightly different terms, that at least one of them have children soon.

"That's good thinking Ed" said Peter, grinning at his brother.

"Which rooms should we put him in?" Susan said, ever the practical one

"There are some lovely rooms near mine," said Lucy, "we could put him there."

"All those rooms have balconies Lu, we don't want Harry to fall," Peter said. Lucy's rooms were some of the highest in the castle and part of a set of rooms with beautiful views of the eastern ocean and large balconies with only some delicately wrought wooden railings to stop a fatal fall.

"I didn't think of that," Lucy laughed at her own folly.

"Perhaps we could put him in the rooms Prince Corin usually occupies," Susan suggested, "King Lune does not arrive for another few weeks and we could find other rooms to put the prince in."

"That seems the best solution, they are already fitted for a child and your rooms are only a little further down that corridor," Peter said.

"I'll have someone freshen it up a little," said Susan, "and find some toys for him."

"Yes, he ought to have toys," Lucy said. She had only vague memories of playing with toys but she supposed that that was because there had been rather a lot to do in the years since they had defeated the White Witch and she'd simply had no time for playing since then.

"What on earth will we do with him?" Edmund said, he'd been in a little world of his own while his siblings spoke about where to put Harry.

"How do you mean?" Lucy said, looking at her brother confusedly. Susan and Peter's expressions mirrored hers.

"We're all busy, some weeks we barely see each other, and I don't know if we could raise a child – we've no experience in the matter."

"What are you suggesting Ed?" said Peter,

"Only that we ask King Lune if he might take Harry. Corin is roughly the same age as him and Lune's eldest son, Cor, was kidnapped shortly after we were crowned."

"Oh yes, and we sent one of our ships to try and catch them but his twin was never found," Susan said, sadly. It had been a horrible feeling, that their first action to try and help an ally, and to save an innocent, had failed.

"It might open an old wound but Harry would certainly have more human company around were he to live in Archenland," though Archenland had its fair share of Beasts and the other beings that populated Narnia all the humans who had lived in Narnia during the early years of the great winter had been murdered by the White Witch in an attempt to avert the prophecy. While Narnia and Archenland were staunch allies once again the Achenlandians were a bit wary of moving back into Narnia. The Pevensies had agreed to trips out into Archenland to reassure the people there that they were very much human (albeit human children) and that Narnia was safe.

"We can't give him up. Aslan sent him here, to us, and it must have been for a reason," cried Lucy. Peter looked between his brother and sister, he had to admit that Edmund had a point, he was only seventeen and he had no idea what to do with a child – let alone try to raise one and be a king. On the other hand he had felt sorry for the boy who had obviously lost so much and Lucy seemed to have really taken to him even in such a short time, he didn't want to disappoint his youngest sibling.

"It's obvious that we'll have to keep him until King Lune's visit, perhaps we should make the decision closer to that point. We'll have a better idea of whether we can handle this," Peter said.

"I agree," said Susan.

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Harry was in a state of awe. The nice lady with reeds in her hair and her friends were fussing over him the way Aunt Petunia fussed over Dudley, his bathwater had been warm and smelt nice, whatever they'd gently washed his hair with hadn't been the soap from the sink, they'd encouraged him to play in the water and hadn't complained when his splashing had gotten a little out of hand and the water had splashed out of the wooden tub. The towels he'd been wrapped in after getting out were soft and big. They'd even had new clothes for him when he got out, though they were a little strange and a bit loose they did have pretty patterns sewn into them and were by far the nicest clothes he'd ever had - even more than his school uniform. There were soft boots for his feet which felt much nicer than his school shoes. Was this what it felt like to have parents?

When he was dressed one of the ladies led him down several different corridors until they came to a room with a big desk, like the one Miss Timmins had, and one of the pretty ladies he'd met at lunch sitting behind it.

"Ah Lilaea, you brought him," Susan came around the desk to see Harry dressed in his borrowed clothes as the naiad left, "how are you feeling Harry? Do you like the clothes?" there had been a mad scramble to find clothes that might fit Harry until one of the dwarves had offered some of his son's old clothes. His school uniform had been next to useless as the Dursleys, not wanting to have to spend much on their nephew, had bought his school uniform big enough 'for him to grow into' meaning it would have been big on a normal sized four year old but it swamped Harry.

"They're the nicest clothes I ever got," Harry said excitedly, stroking the woollen tunic. Susan smiled despite the fact that his words reinforced the unhappy picture she was gathering of his formed home life.

"That's wonderful, now would you like to see your room?" Susan hoped that the quick clean and freshen up of the room had been completed by the time they got there.

"I get a room!" Harry cried, staring up at her.

"Of course! You shall have a room and toys and tomorrow there will be a tailor to make you some more clothes" said Susan, offering him her hand. He took it, his tiny hand dwarfed by her larger one, and they left the office with Harry still gazing reverently up at her.

They wound their way through more corridors until they came at last to door. It was one of the many in Cair Paravel which had more than one handle to cater to the differing heights of its residents. Susan opened the door and looked down at Harry, whose hand had slid from hers and who stared around the room in wonderment. Tentatively he took a few steps into the room, looking back at Susan for permission, she nodded and he gaped at the room. The bed, the tapestries on the walls, the window seat piled with cushions, the rugs on the floor and the open chest with toys haphazardly packed into it.

"Do you like it?" Susan said quietly, not wanting to interrupt his silent appreciation.

"Is it really mine?" Harry said, his voice a whisper.

"All of it. Now, I'll leave you to explore before dinner," Susan closed the door softly

"How goes our new addition?" Peter had rounded the corner while Susan had been busy with Harry and joined her next to the door.

"He's excited by the smallest thing, his parents must have been awful people to treat him so," she'd had to hide how affected she was by Harry's little comments and she let it out now as a couple of tears trickled down her cheek.

"We'll make sure he's okay, one way or another he'll have a better life now," Peter said, wrapping an arm around his sister's shoulders. Susan had always been the most maternal of them since their parents were...somewhere else. He was actually rather fuzzy on the details of why their parents weren't there but he supposed it would be hard for them to rule if their parents were in Narnia too.

Inside the room Harry gazed longingly at the carved chest with toys poking out of it. At home he wasn't allowed to play with the toys but Susan had said he could and there wasn't anybody else here so maybe it was like school and he could play with them anyway. Mind made up he ran over to the chest and peeked over the edge into it. A hobby horse with a fine wool mane and cloth reins stuck out at a strange angle; a small wooden sword, scabbard and a shield with a carved lion in it; little carved centaurs, fauns and other creatures he didn't know the names of; and a number of boxes and pouches which obvious held more games.

It was Lucy who knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for an answer to find Harry sitting on the floor surrounded by a small army of carved and painted figures. There was even a miniature Aslan in pride of place. Quite what Harry was doing with them eluded her but he seemed to be having fun. His head jerked around, eyes fearfully wide, and he flinched back.

"I'm sorry," Harry said

"What for?" Lucy said curiously, "anyway, it's supper time now and we'd best hurry or else they'll eat all the food" Lucy laughed gaily and Harry scrambled to his feet, hopping out of the little circle of creatures and taking the hand Lucy offered him. They moved at a less sedate pace than Susan and Harry had, and Lucy often stopped to chatter to people only to remember they had to hurry.

They arrived at the small dining room where the other three Pevensies waited, smiling as their little sister appeared. One of the chairs had a rather large cushion perched on it, to bring the occupant up to table height and after a moment of watching Harry try to climb up on to it Edmund stood up and picked the four year old up, depositing him gently on to the top of the cushion. There was only a little discussion over the food as all the Pevensies tried their best not to exclude Harry, only to find him rather shy.

After supper had been cleared away the Pevensies each wished Harry a good night before a lady faun took him gently back to his bedroom. The toys form earlier had been packed away, candles had been lit and the bed was turned down, with a nightshirt laid on it.

"There are some stories I could tell you if you'd like" the faun, whose name was Caprasia, said.

"Really?" Harry gaped; bedtime stories were something he'd never had. He'd heard Dudley throw tantrums about them but Aunt Petunia had never read him one.

"Yes, but you must be in your nightshirt in your bed before I do," Caprasia said. She was surprised when Harry only required a little help with getting changed, that was when he got the tunic tangled up above his head and she had to ease him out of it. He was in his nightshirt and trying to fold his clothes while she was still slightly boggled by the fact that a boy of that age was happy to go to bed, neither of her faunlets had been particularly compliant in that regard. Smiling gently, she took the clothes off him and folded them properly, clopping over to set them on a clothes chest while Harry scrambled into bed and pulled the covers up around him. His tiny fingers traced the embroidered vines and flowers on the quilt.

"Now, what would you like to hear?" she settled herself on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know," Harry said, he didn't know what bedtime stories were supposed to be like let alone Narnia bedtime stories

"What if I told you about how Narnia came to be?" Harry nodded excitedly, "well then. A very long time ago there was no Narnia..."

Harry had fallen asleep partway through the story, Caprasia settled the quilt a little higher around arms that had gone slack with sleep and then puttered about extinguishing the candles until just one remained, set away from anything it could catch alight and too far up for little hands to reach, which would last through the night. She shut the door quietly and about ran into Queen Susan.

"Is he asleep?" said Susan.

"Drifted off as I told him a story Your Majesty," said Caprasia, bobbing a curtsey. They parted as Susan went off to her own rooms.

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**The next few chapters might be a bit slow, but they'll also be quite fluffy. There are interesting things ahead though, I promise you, and what amounts to a Christmas chapter. I should also warn you, I suck at writing four year olds so if Harry and Corin seem older then I apologise.**

**Au revoir **


	4. Chapter 3: A New Prince

**This one is going to be a little shorter than the last one, but I came to a convenient stopping place.**

**Disclaimer: ****Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Various original characters are mine.**

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Harry woke to warm sunshine peeking through the drapes. It hadn't been a dream, he was really here in Narnia and everything was wonderful. A lady with leaves in her hair came in to wake him, bringing more clothes, a washbasin full of water, a washcloth and soap. He was able to wash himself before he pulled the clothes on and was escorted to breakfast. It seemed much quicker than dinner, especially since Susan, Edmund and Lucy all had to dash off bidding him goodbye and leaving him with Peter.

"Harry, I was thinking about what you ought to do today," said Peter, they'd discussed it after Harry had left the supper table, "and you should meet some of those here who are more your age," the door opened and the faun who had brought Harry to the castle came in, "Lironus is going to take you to our nursery," the nursery was a large courtyard garden, enclosed by walls. Nobody had meant to set it up but one day a faun mother had asked her friend to look after her children while she worked, the little group had ended up in that particular courtyard and soon a number of children had gathered, playing together with parents sitting by watching them. When off duty guards and even those without children started coming in to look after the children who were dropped off it became apparent that the system was working. It had even been sanctioned by the Pevensies, once it had been brought to their attention, and all four had dropped by occasionally to keep an eye on the children. "In a few days, if you like, I can arrange for you to have lessons with some of the youngsters from here."

"Thank you sir," Harry said, Lironus bowed and the two left the room. Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair; he was far too young to be being called 'sir', let alone to have the responsibility of bringing up a four year old. Lucy had been enough of a challenge.

It hadn't taken them long to reach the courtyard gardens, even if Lironus did have to slow himself down considerably to allow Harry to keep pace. They came to the garden with the nursery in it and an off duty centaur saluted him; Lironus gave him a gesture of acknowledgement. Harry was in shock, there were beasts of every kind here. Small fauns, and little centaurs whose legs seemed so delicate, miniature satyrs, the young of every kind of talking Beast and even a couple of young dryads.

Lironus called for his son and a young faun who was even blonder than his father came hopping over.

"Turnus, this is Harry. He's staying with their Majesties for a while and he doesn't know anybody here, I want you to keep an eye on him and introduce him to your friends."

"Sure father," Lironus smiled down at Turnus who grabbed Harry's hand and went running back join his friends. The faun was faster than Harry, tugging him along as he struggled to stay upright until they reached the group who were talking loudly

"Everyone," Turnus managed to be heard over the din his friends were making, "this is Harry. Harry, these are Callion, Thaisus, Sarion, Cheepipeep, Matius, Cleissera, Sidenus, Lytus, Eanus, Marpessa and Argenne," Turnus had gestured to his friends in turn but Harry's head was still reeling, trying to match the names to the faces he barely knew.

"Come on," said a centaur who Harry thought might have been Callion, "Let's play the battle of Beruna. I call being King Peter."

"That's not fair," one of the fauns said, "King Peter isn't a centaur."

"He's not a faun either," the centaur snapped. The debate continued until it reached a satisfactory conclusion (which ended up with King Peter being a centaur, Queen Susan being a dryad, King Edmund as a Mouse and Queen Lucy played by a faun with everyone else as the two armies and a very tiny Satyr as the White Witch – though he protested that he ought to be the White Wizard) and the 'battle' began.

The weeks between Harry's appearance at Cair Paravel and the arrival of King Lune, Prince Corin and most of the court of Archenland were idyllic. There had been some fumbling over Harry and his place in court, mostly whether or not to call him Your Highness, especially as the kings and queens had been rather elusive on that particular subject but for the most part Harry was simply absorbed into the general daily routine.

They'd had Birds reporting that the party from Archenland were encamped within Narnia and would arrive on the morrow, or perhaps the day after that depending on how quickly they moved. The palace was abuzz with activity and speculation, this would be King Lune's second visit to Archenland (all prior visits between Narnia and Archenland had been conducted with one or more of the Pevensies coming to Archenland, in deference to Lune's newborn children up until half a year ago, when Lune and Corin had braved the start of Narnian winter to ask for aid after a bad harvest in Archenland had left the people starving) and people worked night and day to make the palace look even better than it had previously.

It was after a council meeting to finalise the schedule for King Lune's visit that Peter brought the subject of Harry back to the table.

"Are we going to ask Lune to take Harry back to Archenland with him?"

"We can't," cried Lucy, "he loves it here, he's made so many friends and you can't say that we're not raising him Ed, because I've seen him sitting with you when you and Su take petitioners." Over the past two and a half weeks Harry had spent time with each Pevensie as well as with his new friends, Harry had been particularly intrigued by the people who came to the castle, often from the other side of Narnia, to try and find justice or to report a problem within Narnia.

"No I can't say that, and we have made more time to spend as a family since he came along," said Edmund; they all made some noise of agreement. The pressures of ruling, especially a country where an apple tree might make a complaint about being over picked or a group of Dogs bring a stone statue in to be brought back to life (they had to put the statues aside in a room for the next time Aslan appeared since they had no idea how to bring them back to life otherwise) and with giants on the northern border, Telmarines on the western and Calormens to the south they had been pulled apart as a family.

"Nobody has any objections to him staying permanently then?" Susan said, she was met with negative answers, "if that's settled then should we adopt him, make him our heir?"

"Actually," Peter coughed, sharing a glance with Edmund, "we might have already drawn up a document to that effect, if you two have a look over it then unless there are any strenuous objections anything we've written we can sign and seal it and by the time King Lune gets here he'll be Prince Harry of Narnia."

"Shouldn't we ask Harry if he wants to be a prince, or adopted?" Lucy said. Susan had been rather circumspect about her suspicions around her youngest sibling, not wanting to dim Lucy's rose tinted view of the world.

"I think that would be a good idea Lu," said Peter, "but you and Susan ought to read it over anyway, if he accepts we'll want to sign it as soon as possible."

The document was duly read over and apart from some ribbing at the rather pompous terms it was unanimously agreed upon and, though it signed into law quite then they all agreed it was fair. Harry would be heir presumptive, even if any of them should have children later on (both boys had vague memories of lessons about kings they couldn't remember the names of fighting other members of their family for a country they couldn't quite recall the name of). The rumours that Harry was going to be heir to the throne had been all over the castle since his arrival but with this strengthening of the rumours into almost-fact Beasts and Creatures breathed a sigh of relief, though they weren't entirely sure whether this was normal human reproduction. Maybe all human young appeared out of thin air fully formed and then grew, it seemed a sound argument to many of those discussing it. Fortunately for Harry he didn't come into contact with anyone who might hint at his new status until Lucy came to collect him for dinner. She seemed even happier than she normally was as she brought him to the dining room.

"Now Harry," Peter began, once everyone was settled in their seats, "we've something important to ask you," Harry looked at the Pevensies worriedly. "None of us have any children and...well...we'd rather like to adopt you."

"What's that?" Harry looked slightly worried.

"What it means is that you'd be like our son, although only legally since you're a little old to pass as a child of any of us," said Edmund, Lucy laughed at the idea of her having a child, "and you'd be heir to Narnia."

Harry looked at them, eyes flicking from one person to another around the table. They wanted to be his parents, they wanted him to stay. He'd only been here a couple of weeks and already they were nicer than the Dursleys had ever been, and they hadn't wanted him if they hadn't come to get him after he'd been here so long.

"Okay," Harry said, voice slightly choked and unshed tears shimmering in his eyes. The four Pevensies got up from their seats and the next thing Harry knew he was part of an embrace that included all of them, welcoming him into the family.

The formal proclamation was made shortly after the Pevensies finished dinner, from the four prophesied thrones with the room bathed in the light of the setting sun. Harry, who'd been hurriedly re-dressed in one of the finer outfits created for him by the tailor, stood to one side as Peter spoke to the crowd standing in front of them. The hullaballoo once Peter was finished nearly deafened Harry it was so loud and intermixed with baying, neighing and any sort of animal noise you might imagine. All of this was suddenly overlaid by a deep, spine-tingling roar that seemed to come from nowhere. It reverberated within the hall for longer than it strictly should have but all those that heard it felt uplifted. Aslan had accepted the new prince.

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**The next chapter is going to be the first one that isn't a note and also Corin will arrive.**

**Adiós**


	5. Chapter 4: One Prince, Two Prince

**This one is longer and contains Corin. King Lune's dialogue is as close as I could get it to how he speaks in the Horse and His Boy complete with odd uses of older English which sound weird. Again, I warn you that I have trouble writing four year olds and yes, Corin is somewhat spoilt.**

**Disclaimer: ****Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Various original characters are mine.**

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It was towards the end of the next day when the party of Archenlanders headed up by King Lune arrived at Cair Paravel, Prince Corin riding next to him on a pony and the rest of the adults following. Everyone had turned out to watch the procession and many threw flowers as the trail of people wound its way up towards the castle. Outside the great doors to the castle the Pevensies and Harry waited, Peter spoke quietly with Tumnus and Harry fiddled nervously with the hem of his new tunic.

"You shouldn't worry Harry," Lucy turned to him and said, "Lune is a lovely man, and he's a son who's about your age," though Lucy thought Corin was rather bigger than Harry, who had told them he was four. At that moment the Archenland delegation arrived, King Lune dismounting with ease and then bending down to help Corin off his pony. Together they walked up to the Pevensies.

"Cousins, I hope I find you well?" Lune said, making a small bow to Susan and Lucy.

"All the better for your visit cousin," Peter replied, "you have both been travelling and must be weary. We have rooms prepared for you where you may bathe and change before the feast."

Corin was bored, his father hadn't let him ride ahead and all the adults were talking in their court voices. He spotted Harry standing next to Lucy and marched over.

"Hallo, I'm Prince Corin," said Corin, sticking out a hand.

"I'm Harry," said Harry, shaking Corin's hand tentatively, the blond boy was bigger than him and sturdier but he seemed much nicer than Dudley.

"Do you live here?" said Corin curiously, when he'd been here before there'd been nobody his age.

"Yes, they adopted me," Harry said, making a small gesture to indicate the Pevensies.

"Well I'm glad to see that my son has made a friend," King Lune's rather booming voice interrupted their little conversation and made Harry jump a little.

"This is Prince Harry, our heir," said Edmund.

"You never said you were a prince," Corin hissed, poking Harry.

"I forgot, sorry," Harry said sheepishly, rubbing the place Corin had poked.

"Corin," King Lune said rather sharply, watching the exchange "thou hast manners, be so kind as to use them."

The Archenlanders were escorted to the rooms that had been earmarked for them, and within the hour most were down in the great hall where a great feast had been laid out. Venison, peacock, pavender, wheaten cakes, bread, many kinds of fruit and vegetable, roast potatoes, different kinds of bread and cheese and flagons of many coloured wines all laid out on groaning tables. People laughed and talked with Beasts, sat anywhere, switched seats to try a bit of everything and were presided over by the high table where the Pevensies, King Lune, Corin and Harry sat. Though they'd both been given a variety of juices Corin was trying to sneak some of his father's wine while Lune was distracted talking to Edmund. Everything was so noisy but everyone seemed so happy and the food was nicer even than normal Narnia fare.

"Come on," Corin tugged at Harry's sleeve and pulled him out of his chair under the table, "father's too quick, but we can get some wine if we head down the tables."

"What's wine?" said Harry, he liked Corin but he didn't understand why the other boy wanted wine.

"I don't know, father drinks it and he won't let me," they reached one of the lower tables and one the Archenlandish lords was talking rather seriously to an Eagle perched on the back of a chair. Both were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice the flagon of wine in front of them disappear from the table. Harry and Corin darted between the milling creatures back up to the high table and under the fine linen tablecloth. Corin seemed eager to try it first and took a great gulp, spraying it out a moment later onto Harry

"Ack, eugh" Corin coughed, rubbing his tongue on the back of his hand to try to get the taste off of his tongue, face wrinkled. Harry, face and neck slightly damp from Corin's vehement reaction to the wine wrinkled his nose.

"What's going on under here?" Lucy's head appeared under the table, taking the scene in. Lune's face appeared under the table moments later and Corin, holding the flagon, was unceremoniously dragged out from under the table by the collar of his tunic. Harry crawled out, not wanting to be left alone under there.

"I am shamed Corin," Lune said, looking disapprovingly down at his son, "shouldst have the sense to listen to thy father and the honour not to disobey him so publically," Corin looked down at the floor and seemed to shrink, "but enough, for I think thy curiosity, and appetite for wine, is sated. Is it not so my son?"

"Yes father," Corin said, still mostly focused on the floor.

"Then we shall speak no more of it," Corin hopped back up on the chair, still shame facedly and Harry clambered back into his chair.

They didn't have to go to bed for hours, not until the stars were fully visible in the sky and the party had spilled out into the courtyards. A couple of very drunken Archenlandish lords were attempting to participate in the faun's dance. One of them fell over as he tried to copy a jump and came up with grass stains all down his tunic and a bloody lip but still smiling. There had been dancing as well, Harry and Corin were both pulled to join in as even drunken Narnian dancing was careful of certain smaller participants. The whole revel was presided over by the four Pevensies and King Lune, the latter of which had had a few too many cups of wine and was looking rather ruddy cheeked.

At last everyone fell into bed to sleep off the night's exertions (many of them woke up to find themselves still wearing the clothes from the night before) and somebody shuffled Harry and Corin off to their respective rooms.

The next morning didn't start until it was nearly afternoon when most of the castle (apart from those who had abstained, who were few) roused themselves, groaning. Some of the younger lords, still half-drunk from the previous night's overindulgence, decided the best way to wake themselves up would be to go and jump in the sea – returning shivering and stiff with sea salt but laughing. Fortunately for King Lune the council meeting to open the trade discussions was not scheduled until that evening so he had some time to recuperate. Even Harry and Corin slept late, exhausted by the activity (albeit without the alcohol) of the night. Lunch was simple and light; many people took it in their rooms or outside as there was no formal setting. Corin had found Harry easily enough as the dark haired boy was eating his lunch.

"None of the adults are being any fun," Corin said, flopping down beside Harry on the grassy knoll he'd chosen to sit on, "father's been groaning since I woke up."

"Last night was fun though," said Harry, offering Corin part of the honey cake the cooks had given him. The blond boy took it and munched on it.

"I say, can't we explore the castle a bit? While there's nobody around to stop us looking at the interesting bits," Corin said excitedly, crumbs flying from his mouth as he spoke.

"Sure, though there's not much I'm not allowed into," said Harry, he'd gotten lost a couple of times in Cair Paravel but he had found some interesting things, or at least been told which rooms to stay out of. The thought of going into them anyway hadn't really struck him before.

"Bother, I've got lessons," Corin pouted, though he would have denied it, "I don't suppose you'd come?" Although Peter had mentioned lessons shortly after he'd arrived nobody had mentioned them since and, like many normal children, Harry was loathe to take lessons that were not forced on him. But Corin had treated him like a friend and he had the idea that this was the sort of thing friends did for one another.

"I'll come," Harry said.

Corin's lessons started in the mid-afternoon, once Lord Peridan had found them (looking only slightly the worse for wear) and looked surprised that the Narnian prince was volunteering for lessons. He'd commandeered a room and there was parchment and charcoal sticks sitting at two small tables.

"I thought a little geography might be in order," Peridan said, Corin groaned but Harry looked interested, "Corin, can you tell me the four major countries in this land?"

"Archenland, Narnia, Calormen and the other one," Corin smiled cheekily,

"Very funny, the other one is Telmar which is situated to the west of Narnia. I have a map here which you can look at to see the positions of the countries and the other surrounding islands" Peridan unrolled the map, weighting the corners with objects. The lesson continued in much the same way, though Harry learnt far more than Corin, until Peridan set them to transcribing the alphabet on the paper with the charcoal from another parchment with the letters carefully printed on them.

The lessons took about half an hour but it seemed longer. Harry couldn't help but be rather envious of Corin, his letters hadn't been shaky, he hadn't smudged the charcoal once or broken his stick of it and he'd known the answers to most of Peridan's questions. But he didn't think much on it as Corin pulled him out of the room and down one of the corridors.

"Golly that was boring," Corin said, "fancy Lord Peridan wanting to know so much about geography."

"I thought it was good, I never knew there was Calormen or Telmar," the castle had seemed so big that the idea of more land outside of that and whole other countries was insane, " and all those mountains" Harry had never seen the sea until he'd come to Narnia, let alone a mountain.

"They aren't that great, now can we go exploring?" Corin complained, looking at the fork in the corridor they were coming up to.

"I think the armoury is that way," Harry pointed to the left fork, "but I'm not supposed to go in there." Edmund had explained that there were lots of sharp and pointy things in there which he shouldn't handle until he was older.

"Great, let's go," Corin headed down the left fork.

They came to the door to the armoury, heavy wood and studded with metal it was obviously meant to keep people out in the case of a siege. Of course neither of the boys knew this, only that there was no way they would be able to get unnoticed. Then they had some luck, a faun carrying pieces of armour which blocked the boys from his view, arrived at the door and kicked it twice with a hoof. It opened from within, the faun ushered in and Corin and Harry were able to dart in quickly as the door swung closed. The room was large, with every kind of weapon from huge double headed battleaxes (meant to be wielded by centaurs or Minotaurs) to scimitars from Calormen to small belt daggers. Creatures sat about everywhere sharpening weapons, cleaning them and there was a Mouse balanced on the table testing the weight of a sabre. One of the leather smiths, identifiable by the pungent odour that clung to his fur (for he was a satyr), sorted through the newly arrived armour to see if any of their straps and buckles needed replacing. The boys stood in awe for a few moments, then had to dart under a table as a male dryad very nearly walked into them.

"Do you think I could take one of the knives?" Corin hissed as he gestured at those on the lowest rack, small knives. He needn't have whispered as the din was such that he would only have been overheard if he shouted.

"That's stealing," Harry said, aghast.

"They shan't miss it, and they'd give it to me anyway if I asked for one," Corin said, though he wasn't quite sure about that – his father had said no when he'd asked for a knife.

"If you can ask for one, why do you want to take one?" said Harry, his expression confused.

"You're no fun," Corin said grumpily, stamping his little foot.

"Now my lads, wha's this?" the gruff voice of something standing on two hooves in front of the table they'd ducked under said, "yer rumbled, you might as well come out" it continued. Harry and Corin came out properly from under the table and looked up into the grizzled face of a strongly muscled satyr, "what would your 'ighness's be doing in our armoury unaccompanied?"

"We only wanted a look," Corin said defensively, staring up at the satyr.

"That's all well and good your 'ighness but if you'd been 'urt we'd all 'ave been guilty. If yer want a good look then come back with yer pa," so saying, the satyr moved towards the door, hauled it open and gestured the boys out.

"Well that wasn't good," Corin chewed his lower lip.

They gave up exploring and headed back to Harry's room until they were called for dinner.

The weeks of the visit fell away as Harry and Corin grew closer and the residents of the Cair more used to seeing the two princes playing together. They had to be chased out of places they weren't supposed to be and fetched for lessons or when one or other of the monarchs got worried (including the one rather memorable time the boys had decided to take a trip down to the sea shore unescorted and borrowed Corin's pony and some food from the kitchens, leaving King Lune and the Pevensies to go wild with worry when neither turned up to lunch or lessons that day, only to come back to the castle towards early evening with damp clothes and sand everywhere). The impromptu friendship of the two Princes aside the talks had gone very well, including the implementation of a tariff on reselling imports from Calormen.

"I almost don't want to separate them," Lucy said, the five monarchs sat together enjoying another picnic lunch while Corin, Harry and some of Harry's other friends played a game that seemed to be part hide-and-seek and part catch.

"I quite agree, they have become such fast friends it would a shame to tear them asunder," Lune said, watching the game which had now added a ball that Corin was inexpertly wrestling a faunlet for.

"Perhaps we might arrange more visits between our courts," said Edmund, though Archenland was their strongest - and probably their only – ally a strong relationship between the future rulers of the two countries was nothing to be sniffed at.

"A wise suggestion Your Majesty. Though there is a custom in Archenland whereby a noble boy of six or seven years might stay with another family until he is grown into manhood to foster harmony between the two houses," said Lune.

"An honourable custom indeed and perhaps one we should look into when the boys reach that age," said Susan.

"Corin, Corin," Harry came bounding through a door to his friends rooms, only to find the blond boy packing his toys away, "why are you packing?"

"We're leaving tomorrow for Archenland," Corin said despondently, his expression gloomy. He loved the castle at Anvard but none of the Lords had children or grandchildren who were his age and so he was often bored. There weren't as many creatures in Anvard either, and they'd been fun to play with (even if he did have a number of bruises from flailing hooves or pointy horns).

"Oh," said Harry, he wasn't sure if he'd expected Corin and King Lune to stay, they had been there for rather a long time.

"You could run away and come with us," Corin said hopefully, "or we could run away together and I wouldn't have to go," Harry thought about that, the flash of hope in Corin's eyes dulling with every moment his friend was silent.

"No," Harry said, he wanted to go with Corin but he wanted to stay with his new family more.

"Okay," said Corin, looking glummer than ever.

It was two rather despondent looking boys who sat at the dinner table that night, barely talking rather than the loud babble of childish conversation which had been characteristic of the past few weeks. The adults around the table felt the press of the awkward silence, it was difficult to talk cheerfully when the children were so quiet and for such a reason.

The rest of the Archenlandish party, as well as those Narnians close enough to the royal family, noticed the same thing the next day when the Archenland delegation departed. The boys embraced like brothers and when they had to part they waved frantically at each other, Corin almost fell off his horse he waved so wildly, until they could no longer see one another. It was then Harry burst into tears, immediately drawn into Susan's arms and allowed to cry it out. The rest of the day he spent being rather listless, doing little of anything and eating little.

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**Next chapter is the Christmas chapter and what an appropriate time to post it. I'll probably put it up on Christmas Eve, so Saturday, as an early present to you all. **

**I'd also like to announce that there is a poll regarding relationships up on my profile page.**

**Happy Holidays.**


	6. Chapter 5: It's Beginning to Look

**Full chapter title is: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.**

**So you might have noticed I suck at deadlines. On the other hand this chapter is bigger, but it's mostly just Christmas fluff. Next chapter will have things actually happen.**

**Animals with Capitalised Names are Talking Animals, not errors in punctuation.**

**Disclaimer: ****Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Various original characters are mine.**

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The next day dawned and, though Harry was obviously not completely to rights, he came downstairs for breakfast (and Susan couldn't help but notice that the tunic which had fitted him so well before the talks was getting shorter and somewhat tighter across the chest, something she was glad to see for many people had remarked on the prince's small height and slight build although she'd have to get the tailor to make him up some new ones) and was far less quiet than he had been. Once breakfast was finished, but before any of them got up to leave, Harry caught their attention.

"May I have some lessons?" said Harry, looking between them. One thing he'd learnt from Corin was just how little he knew, besides he'd found some of the things Lord Peridan spoke about very interesting.

"Of course you may," said Peter, recalling his offer to Harry from weeks ago. He'd known the boy was sharing Corin's lessons, Lune had remarked upon it, but he hadn't expected this, "I'll set it up as soon as possible, but they won't start today," he was High King, not Aslan. Besides, though they'd had lessons on the history and geography of Narnia they'd mostly been on the fly and the rest had just been 'learn on the go', and they hadn't had to learn to read or write (and he'd always wondered just why Narnian script was English, and such familiar English as well) so he had no idea of who might make a good tutor for Harry.

Again given a day to his own devices Harry decided to do something rather uncharacteristic and try and find the library. Lord Peridan had mentioned that there was one when Corin had asked him how he kept producing all the different books for them to study. Corin had been able to read quite well while he'd barely been able to make out letters, and if he couldn't be taught to read quite yet he'd give it a try himself. Eventually, after some wandering and a few directions, he found the library. Large shelves lined the walls and separated the open spaces, a mix of bound books and scrolls on their shelves, many of the shelves had markers on them with letters. In the middle of the room sat a rather tall desk with the librarian, who was an Ape, sitting behind it.

"How might I help you today?" she, for the Ape was a she, said.

"I want to learn to read," Harry said determinedly. She laughed, though it wasn't unkind.

"That will take more than just one afternoon of work little one, but I'll help you, I am Chordata," she jumped down from the desk and moved swiftly to a particular bookcase, climbing dextrously up to the top couple of shelves and bringing down a couple of books. She led him to a comfortable chair towards the back of the room where there was surprisingly good light.

Harry left the library a couple of hours later feeling better with the two books clutched to his chest. Both the books had simple stories but he'd read through them with Chordata who'd helped him sound out the letters and make them into words, defining them where necessary without the aid of a dictionary. Best of all one of them had a couple of pages in the back with the letters of the alphabet printed, so he could easily copy them. He left the books in his room and ran outside to play.

It ended up taking Peter three days to sort out a tutor and he ended up finding two, one who was an old centaur and the other a faun. The lessons mostly took place outside since it was still high summer and it was easier for the centaur and the faun to kneel on the grass rather than anywhere indoors unless it was necessary. The centaur, Actaeon, spoke of the history of Narnia and Archenland, the geography and even of the stars, dragging Harry out to see the stars. The faun, Ixinia, taught him writing and his alphabet, carefully showing him how to shape his letters and write out his name. Susan had cried when he'd shyly presented his carefully written name, Lucy had ginned widely and given him a hug, Peter had clapped him on the shoulder and Edmund had joked that he could get Harry to look over legal papers soon enough.

Soon enough it was winter and Harry had had to go and see the tailor twice at least since he'd grown at least three inches and put on weight thanks to the regular food and exercise and the Narnian air. He'd had to get new winter clothes, including a rather luxurious fur lines cloak because of the harshness of the Narnian winters. Though there was little sign of the Witch's rule left the Narnian winters remained brutal, although at least this time they all knew that spring would come. Instead Narnians sat around fires which burnt high and hot and told tales. Harry sat around and sipped hot spiced apple juice, wine and listened to all the stories. One of the greatest storytellers was a satyr who had been one of the first to be frozen by the Witch and told of the first resistance to her and how the hundred years winter had come to be in Narnia. Harry had heard much about the White Witch, and a group of fauns had composed a ballad about her defeat which was sung. Lucy looked awkwardly at her siblings when they sang about 'War Drobe' and 'Spare 'Oom' and Edmund seemed uncomfortable when they mentioned Aslan's death on the Stone Table. They all applauded at the end though.

Christmas was eagerly anticipated in Cair Paravel, there had been a party of palace youngsters who had been taken down to the main town to buy gifts. Harry had had a difficult time of choosing gifts for the four monarchs, what on earth could you get a king or queen. Eventually though, after much hunting, he managed to find a griffin feather quill set for Peter, an embossed leather arm guard for Susan, a book he thought Edmund might like, a medallion with a lion engraved on it for Lucy and sweets for his friends. Decorations were put up and a couple of fir tree dryads happily allowed their trees to be moved into pots to stand in the great hall. There was fresh snow every morning and many came out to play in the snow, forts were built and sides picked before a snow war ensued.

When Peter and Susan came out of doors to see just what the hullaballoo was about they were pelted with snow from both sides, when they spotted Harry, Lucy and Edmund on one of the sides they ran to join the other. The war continued furiously until everyone was ruddy cheeked (or the equivalent) and half covered in snow and a general truce was declared so that they could go back into the castle for refreshment and a change of clothes. Lucy laughed when she saw her elder sister; parts of Susan's hair had frozen into miniature icicles which stuck out a little from the rest of her hair.

"That was the best fun I've had in months," Peter laughed, looking down at Harry who was very nearly white from head to toe having been submerged in snow when part of their fort had collapsed inwards and picking him up, "you look like a little snowman."

"What's a snowman?" Harry said,

"Well it's a man made out of snow," said Edmund, "only it's mostly rolled into balls and stuck on top of one another."

"And you stick a carrot in the head for a nose and coal for the eyes," said Lucy excitedly.

"Can we make one?" Harry said, caught up in the excitement.

"Tomorrow," Susan said indulgently, she was trying to coax the icicles in her hair to break apart as they passed into the castle which was much warmer.

One of the few benefits of having subjects who had suffered under such a long winter was that Narnians knew how to keep themselves going throughout the winter, they planned ahead and there were very few who needed help over the winter. Despite this, or possible because of this, the castle cellars were stocked as fully as was possible with everything from firewood to dried meat to casks of fresh water. Part of the summer work was cataloguing and organising what needed to be replenished but it was a comfort in winter when, for the most part, things could be used up without worrying.

The week running up to Christmas saw Harry finding bits of fabric to wrap his presents in, something Caprasia was happy to help him with, even producing ribbon to tie them with. He'd practiced writing with a quill until his fingers were black from the inkbut his handwriting was only slightly blotchy and the printing was as good as with a charcoal stick so that he could write their names on the labels for the presents. He'd also found some thick parchment to make Christmas cards, like the ones he'd seen the Dursleys put up throughout December. It was rather an arduous task for a four and a half year old but Harry persevered and eventually he had a number of cards. Ones for his tutors, one for Chordata, some for his friends, and one each for the four Pevensies. He wasn't sure if they had any particular Christmas customs, the Dursleys had given Dudley a present every day from the start of December until Christmas, where he got the big presents. There had been Christmas Dinner, which Harry had had to help make but he'd had to wait until the Christmas Dinner proper was done before he got his plate of turkey and vegetables (Christmas dinner was for family only, not freaks).

As Christmas Eve drew closer Harry hoped he might get a present this year, he wasn't sure if he'd been good exactly but nobody had shouted at him and he'd managed to keep his room rather than being put in a cupboard so maybe he had been good. Hopefully Father Christmas would think he'd been a bit better this year than he had last year or the year before. Dudley had gloated rather a lot that Father Christmas hadn't brought Harry anything, so Harry must have been worse than bad because even naughty boys got coal. The Christmas Eve feast was delicious although with all the sweets and sweet things provided any parent would have happily cursed the cooks when they had to try and take their excitable offspring off to bed with tales of what delights might await them the next morning. The Pevensies all took Harry to his bed and tucked him in, smiling and wishing him a good night. Once they had settled Harry into bed the four of them ran around like mad things making sure that the preparations for the next morning were complete, one of the little comments Harry had let slip had alerted Susan to the fact that Harry couldn't remember ever having a proper Christmas. The four siblings had all vowed to make Harry's first Christmas in Narnia, and indeed his first proper Christmas, unforgettable.

Harry was woken early on Christmas morning by Lucy laughing excitedly, though she was all haste and exuberance he managed to get a moment to dig their presents and cards out from between some of his tunics to take with him. She did not, however, give him time to dress (though neither had she) so they both proceeded down to the great hall in nightshirt or nightdress with an over robe and slippers, Harry clutching presents and cards to his chest. They got there to find Peter, Susan and Edmund all dressed the same as them sitting around the biggest pine tree, which had brightly coloured presents spread out around the pot which contained it. Harry put his down, adding the cards to the appropriate presents and pushing them into the pile.

"We've always opened them oldest to youngest," Lucy said, "though it's most unfair, for Peter's always been the eldest."

"I don't spend five minutes admiring the wrapping Lu," Peter laughed, rummaging around in the pile of presents to find one which had his name on it. "To Peter, from Lucy," he read, pulling off the wrapping and dumping it on the floor and laughing when he saw what it was, "a book on archery, Lu? Really?"

"Well you are rather bad at it," Lucy laughed. Peter, feeling rather childish, stuck his tongue out at her.

They went through the presents until it got to Lucy, who received a number of new bow strings from Susan as she'd taken up archery. They turned to look expectantly at Harry, only to find him waiting for Peter to take his next turn.

"It's your go," Edmund, who was sitting nearest to Harry, said

"I have presents?" Harry said, voice awed.

"Of course you do silly," said Lucy, "from all of us and from Father Christmas," she rifled through the pile and found the biggest one with Harry's name on it, handing it to him. Harry gazed at it and carefully began to undo the ribbon, eventually the wrapping fell away to reveal a fine saddle and soft saddle cloth. He looked confused but stroked the highly polished leather carefully.

The presents were passed around until everybody had a pile of new things, hugs and thanks had been exchanged and the floor was strewn with wrapping and ribbon. Harry had new books, some new toys, a pendant with the Narnian flag on it and a saddle, bridle and grooming kit for a horse.

"We've one more present for you," Edmund said, getting up and going to the door, disappearing out. He was gone for a few minutes and the other three began talking rather loudly until Edmund stuck his head around the door and said "Harry, could you come over here?" Harry hopped to his feet and trotted over, followed by the other three. Edmund came fully through the door leading a fat little pony. Its coat with golden with white splashes and the mane was long and shaggy, forelock falling into dark eyes.

"Meet Steadfast," said Peter, "he's yours." Harry flung his arms around the pony's neck, the pony didn't seem particularly bothered by this and decided that the back of Harry's robe seemed rather tasty and tried to nibble on it, it's soft mouth tickling Harry's ear and making him giggle. He let go of its neck and Edmund handed him the lead attached to the halter.

"Thank you," Harry said earnestly. Even Susan, who had been slightly dubious about giving Harry a pony, couldn't help but smile at him.

Steadfast was stabled again and they'd talked about just what Harry would have to do for him, although they did now employ grooms to look after the small stable of horses they'd had to import from Archenland. While Horses had been intelligent enough to either get out of Narnia or take advantage of the food smuggled in by the resistance movement the horses hadn't been. Many of the Animals had tried to get their less intelligent cousins out of Narnia although there hadn't been many who'd succeeded. Fortunately all the animals who'd gone extinct during the winter could also be found in Archenland or Ettinsmoor and had been reintroduced since. But apart from the Witch's reindeer, who hadn't been seen since she cut them loose, there had been no horses until after the battle at Beruna when somebody had quietly taken the new Kings and Queens aside and explained that they should probably get some horses, as the Horses weren't likely to put up with being ridden now that they weren't at war.

They returned to their rooms to change out of their night clothes and into Christmas finery. Lunch consisted of a couple of large tables filled with light, cold food that had been prepared the day before so that the kitchen staff could spend more time with their families on Christmas. After a hundred years without Christmas it had become a far more significant holiday since it meant they were still free. Harry was skipping and hopping about with excitement and chattering a mile a minute to the youngsters of the families who worked in the palace, and who had therefore been invited to the lunch. He found his friends and was able to exchange gifts with them, listening as they listed off the gifts they had received before chattering about his own. Most of his friends, being not entirely human and unable to ride, didn't quite see why he was so excited at getting a pony but were quite happy to congratulate him on a substantial haul.

If Christmas lunch had been light it was only so that stomachs were grumbling by the time dinner came around and the tables once again groaned with bounty. More guests had arrived, including the Beavers of Beavers Dam who were greeted warmly and introduced to Harry. Once everyone had stuffed themselves fit to bursting instruments were brought out and the names of songs shouted. It didn't seem to matter if one knew the tune, or even the words, Harry found himself singing along to songs that he barely knew. Some of the carols the Pevensies taught he recognised a little but mostly he sang what words he could make out and nodded along to the music. When it came to some of the songs that more people knew, or at least knew the dances too, several couples sprang up to show off. A very energetic faun couple even volunteered to show off one or two of the faster faun reels, which involved rather a lot of jumping (according to Turnus, who Harry had ended up sitting next to on the floor, the higher a faun could leap the more respected he was) and they were well applauded for it.

Eventually, in dribs and drabs, people collected their families and any leftovers they might want to take, wished everyone a good night and went off home. A dryad was playing something low and mournful on a harp, absorbed by the music and Harry watched her, his eyelids falling closed as he drifted off.

"We ought to have sent him to bed hours ago," Susan whispered to Peter.

"It's Christmas Su and he was having fun," Lucy said, yawning

"You ought to be in bed too," Susan said, though she was smiling.

"I think we're all going to bed pretty soon," Edmund joined them, covering a yawn of his own with his hand, "I'll put him to bed if you want to stay down a little longer,"

"Okay Ed," Peter said, "I'll say our goodnights," by this point most of those who were still there were either those who didn't need to sleep like dryads and naiads, those who were nocturnal anyway or those who had simply fallen asleep.

"I'll head up with you," Lucy said, yawning hard enough to make her jaw crack and covering it with both hands. Edmund scooped up Harry, trying not to jostle him enough to wake him and they headed upstairs, Lucy opening the doors for her brother until Harry was settled in his own bed.

"Do you think he enjoyed his first Christmas?" Lucy said, brushing a lock of hair off of Harry's forehead gently.

"I think he did, his face when we gave him Steadfast," Edmund smiled. It had been worth the hunt to find the perfect pony for their...well whatever Harry was (not quite a son, not quite a younger brother), Steadfast was aptly named and had a sweet disposition as well as already being trained and not too big for Harry. Lucy just grinned at Edmund and they left Harry to his dreamless sleep.

From then on if one didn't know where the Crown Prince of Narnia was the answer was either with his friends, in the library or in the stables. Though it was winter and he had been expressly forbidden so many times from riding Steadfast until one of them was there and the ground wasn't covered in snow he'd quickly come to love the pony. Steadfast neighed happily every time Harry came into the stables (the fact that he usually brought an apple or some other treat was immaterial) and provided a silent audience to listen to him read, carefully sounding out the words he didn't know and remembering them to ask whoever he could find who knew their meaning later on. One of the grooms had taught him how to carefully brush the parts of Steadfast that he could reach and check his hooves for stones; the rest of the task the grooms did happily, glad that the boy was already so diligent in looking after his pet. The Pevensies encouraged him in this, even if his actual contribution to taking care of the pony was negligible, reminding him if he happened to forget that he needed to go out and see Steadfast. As he got older the time he'd have to personally care for his horses would lessen, the Pevensies rarely had time to go down and groom or feed their usual mounts nowadays.

* * *

**Th-th-th-that's all folks. Props to anyone who got the Pratchett reference. **

**Hope everyone had a good holiday season and that the first couple of days of 2012 have been good so far. **


	7. Chapter 6: A Big Adventure

**I'd apologise for the delay but at this point it's getting to be a platitude. I've been a bit busy, with the whole 'getting into university' thing, and also going on holiday. I'm off to uni pretty soon, and I have no idea what the workload is like, but I'm going to try and keep writing at least (although I can't promise anything during Freshers, where I'm planning on get repeatedly drunk). **

**As I've said before, I have no idea how to write four year olds so apologies if this is fantastically unrealistic. **

**Also, you might have noticed, we now have a story cover thingy made by yours truly. I think it's pretty cool, what do you think?**

**Disclaimer: Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Various original characters are mine.**

**Warnings: Violence (we finally earn the T-rating people), including violence against small children and sentient animals.**

* * *

Harry's lessons proper resumed a week and a half after Christmas although he'd seen both his tutors and Chordata before that to give them their cards and ask what certain words from his new book meant, when he could find them. Both his teachers assured him that he was doing well and promised to let him have more goes at using a quill since he'd been good with it for doing the Christmas labels. The rest of winter passed easily and soon the snow began melting, turning the grass to mud and the rain caused a number of colds. The only ones who were happy about this were the dryads and naiads, who became more boisterous as their trees put out new leaves and shook off the last of winter or their rivers and streams became swollen with snow melt. Though Narnia winters could be brutal and bitter they didn't last as long as they once had, a legacy of the magic used to turn the land to rights again. It was scarcely a few days after the last of the snow around Cair Paravel (save that on some of the uppermost rooftops) had melted that Harry had asked if he might learn to ride now.

The riding lessons, conducted by whichever of the Pevensies was free, had been going for about two weeks when a Bluebird came flying to Cair Paravel bearing grave news. A village, toward the Narnian border with Ettinsmoor had been sacked by the remains of the Witch's army, they'd swept down from the moors and mountains where they'd evidently been hiding for some time and killed everyone in the village.

"We'll ride north immediately," Peter said and the four of them had all whisked off to begin preparation for taking a sizeable army north. The Bluebird had had no idea what their numbers had been and if they had returned to the moors then it would take a substantial force to rout them.

"We can't all go," Susan said, when they held a council of war before dinner started and Harry arrived.

"We've got to," said Edmund, "we'll have to split our forces into two at least, you'll have to take the archers Susan and we'll need you and your cordial Lucy. There can't be that many of them and it shouldn't take that long."

"I agree with Ed," said Peter, "I know you hate this sort of thing Susan but there's nobody I'd trust more to command the archers."

"I wasn't thinking of that," said Susan, though it was true that she hated war, "it's just we'd have to leave Harry behind."

"The quicker we can get there and defeat them the less time we'll be away from him," said Peter, "we need to tell him tonight anyway."It was then that Harry pushed open the door and trotted in, from the spots of ink flecking his hands he'd been practicing his writing. The grin on his face slowly fell away as he looked at the solemn expressions of the Pevensies.

"Harry," Peter said as soon as the boy was sat at the table, "we're all going to have to go away for a bit, but we'll be back in about a week."

"Why?" said Harry, looking worried.

"Some very bad people did some very bad things and we've got to go and stop them," Susan said carefully.

"Oh," said Harry, he proceeded to pay more attention to his dinner than any of them and left the table without saying goodnight.

Because of the bustle of organising a small army for this kind of trip none of the four monarchs saw Harry until late morning, when they were mounting up to leave and he was brought out by Ixinia to say his goodbyes. Harry was surprised to see that they were all wearing chainmail tunics, Susan and Lucy had bows and arrows strapped to their backs and daggers at their belts, Peter and Edmund had their swords strapped across their backs. Despite that, once they saw him, they all came over to say their goodbyes to Harry, hugging him tightly despite the mail. Harry had been surprised when Lucy's mount has asked very politely if someone might adjust the girth because the buckle was digging into her ribs, from all he'd been told Horses weren't to be ridden. He and Ixinia stayed outside, watching as the group rode away before his lesson started. He'd asked her where they were going and she'd found him a map, pointing out the village the Bluebird had talked of.

The constant reassurances that their majesties would be back were making him nervous, why did everyone have to keep saying they would definitely come back if they were **going** to come back? Maybe...maybe they weren't going to come back at all, maybe they didn't want him anymore and would leave him behind like his parents had. Only this time he was old enough to follow them and make sure. It was easy enough to slip down to the stables and find Steadfast's tack. Getting it on the pony was a different matter and the girth and saddle cloth were horribly twisted when he managed to shove the saddle onto Steadfast's back from the top of the mounting block. From there it was easy enough to get the bridle on and to do up all the buckles, which he'd been taught how to do during his first lesson. Then all he had to do was go to the kitchen and ask for a late picnic lunch cross early dinner, which he was easily given since in the absence of the rest of the royal family he ate on his own. He ran up to his room to take his favourite book and toy but he didn't stay there too long, worried about being caught by Caprasia.

Fortunately nobody was around the stable when he came back with his loot and he carefully put the book and the toy in the sack he'd gotten his neatly wrapped food in. He slung it across his back and led Steadfast out of the stall, hauling the mounting block with him. In the main aisle of the stable he tried to mount Steadfast, managing it on the third attempt – he was lucky to have a pony who didn't mind having such an inexperienced rider on him. Once he was on and his feet were in the stirrups Steadfast trotted out of the stables and down through the town, he was recognised but not stopped since everyone knew the Prince was allowed to wander around as he chose and he'd never caused trouble before. Nobody stopped him even as he left the town and headed down towards the forest. Even for someone who had no experience of hunting or tracking anything, it was easy enough to find the trail the army had left since the ground, still soft and muddy from the melted snow and early spring rains, was torn up from dozens of pairs of hooves in an easy to follow line. Still, Harry slowed Steadfast to a walk so he didn't lose the trail and they plodded onward.

By late evening Cair Paravel was in chaos. Harry was missing and nobody knew when he'd left, since it was only when Caprasia asked after Harry (since he wasn't in his bedroom) that the fuss started. It quickly spread around, the palace staff who were still there joined the search and he wasn't anywhere to be found in the castle. By this point it was far too dark to go outside looking. Somebody sent a Bird to the Owls and a flock of them circled Cair Paravel and the town with their night eyes to see if they could find him, when they couldn't it was hoped that he'd simply gone home with a friend and ended up staying or worried that he'd been kidnapped like Prince Cor. Either way nobody had a particularly restful night.

Harry wasn't exactly having the best night of his life either, eventually he'd had to stop and he'd left the forest behind a couple of hours ago moving out into open scrubland. There wasn't anything to tie Steadfast too and he couldn't see to get the pony's saddle or bridle off, so he tucked the reins through the bit that went behind the pony's ears and hope for the best. He sat down, legs aching, and opened the sack, pulling out a roll, some cold meat and cheese, making sure he left some for later but wishing he'd brought a blanket. And a pillow. And some way of making fire (and he wished he knew how to make a fire). As such he spent a very cold and uncomfortable night on the open ground with only his clothes for cover. Though the early spring days were warm enough the nights could get very cold and Harry was shaking. He barely slept, listening to all the noises of the night and all the creatures that could eat you.

The rising of the sun next morning woke him ridiculously early, leaving him bleary and feeling horrible. He was dirty from the ground he'd slept on and stiff from the riding yesterday, he added a change of clothes to the list of things that he really wanted right now. Maybe he could go back to Cair Paravel and get them and then go and find the Pevensies. He thought about it seriously for a minute and decided to go on; he didn't want them to leave him more than he wanted to be clean and comfortable. He sat up and looked around for Steadfast, only to find the pony munching on grass not that far away from him and sighed happily, if he had to go on foot he wouldn't have been able to continue. It took a few minutes of stretching to get everything working without complaining before he got up and tried to catch his pony. Evidently the night being wild, and being left in the saddle, had made Steadfast a little frisky and less mellow than usual so it took a bit of running after him to catch onto the bridle and pull the reins out of the bridle bit so he could get a better hold on the pony. He picked up the sack and slung it over his shoulder before trying to get on Steadfast again. Without the mounting block giving him a bit of extra height he had to literally climb up the pony's side to get on and deal with the pony's restless shifting as he did so.

* * *

Several miles ahead of Harry the actual war-party was also already awake. They'd all had bedrolls and pillows (and in Lucy's case some of the Dogs had slept around her providing extra warmth) and there were new clothes for the four Pevensies to change into before they put their chainmail tunics back on and strapped their weapons back on.

"Do you suppose Harry is alright without us?" Lucy said to Susan over a quick breakfast.

"I'm sure he's fine, he's probably feeling better than we are," Susan replied as she checked over her bow. They hadn't had any big battles after Beruna, only a few skirmishes with the Witch's supporters that had died off in the last year or so and Susan found that she disliked killing more and more. Shooting for the sole purpose of shooting was well and good, she enjoyed the moments when it was just her, the target and the bow and the whole world fell away but when that ended in the death of another she had trouble with it. Lucy at least had her healing cordial to balance out the killing she did, something Susan had been against (her little sister had barely been _eight _at Beruna and now was only twelve and a half, she shouldn't be killing anything but Lucy had insisted that she needed to do her part to defend her country). All too soon it was time to mount up and continue onwards, those who could get their quicker had gone ahead as scouts to make sure that no other villages were in danger of being sacked and an Eagle had flown back to report that despite a nearby village's attempts at defence a couple of Wolves had been sighed sniffing around at its borders.

"Do you think we could gallop for a few miles?" Peter said to the Horse he rode. The general consensus of the party was that they could speed up for a bit certainly and the group sped up, hooves and paws churning up the soft ground.

* * *

Harry hadn't slept much off of the trail so it was easy to find it again, nudging Steadfast into a bumpy trot and trying to move with it like he'd been taught rather than just being jolted up and down. It didn't help that the muscles in his legs were complaining horrendously at being forced back into such an awkward position, especially after being subjected to it for hours the day before. The open scrubland wasn't particularly interesting and he hadn't encountered any animals or any water. Yesterday they'd spent a good hour or so riding next to the great river and Steadfast had been able to drink his fill but they hadn't encountered so much as a stream today. Harry carefully let go of the reins to manoeuvre the sack carrying his food around to his front to get out the half-full wineskin of apple juice and drank from it. Steadfast was probably thirsty too but he wasn't sure if he should give the pony apple juice, or how someone might feed a pony from a wineskin.

* * *

By late morning they'd reached the village and some of the Dogs they'd brought began scenting around for the Wolves the Eagle had reported. A Hawk, one of the scouts who'd stayed behind at the village, came down to direct them to the more recent sightings while the rest of the small army set about helping the villagers. Spare swords were lent out and an impromptu lesson on the basics of how to use a sword began in the village's square. They were fortunate in that most of the villagers; made up of fauns, satyrs, a few dwarfs and a family of Hares were healthy and able to fight if given weapons. The dwarfs came forward and offered their home as somewhere those who would not be able to fight, being either too young or too old, could stay. When Edmund examined it he found it well situated, solidly built and easy to defend. The doors and window shutters had metal strips across them and the windows themselves were small. The roof, made of wood instead of thatches, was also punctuated by metal strips holding it together.

"We do get some terrible storms up here during the winter," the dwarf, who had introduced herself as Airom, said. She showed him how one might bar the doors and windows from the inside making it much harder to get into.

"Your home is wonderful," said Edmund, despite his knees beginning to hurt from kneeling, "though I must ask how you got so much wood?"

"We used to live up in caves in Ettinsmoor during the Great Winter with some of the others from the village," said Airom,"but once that was broken we moved back down here into Narnia and...well...some trees didn't survive it being winter for so long sir. We made sure to ask the dryads and if they told us the trees were dead we cut 'em down. The more west you go, the closer to where her castle was, the more dead trees you find. And if they weren't dead they were just as good as, working for her. But we only took the dead ones and we built this village."

"Commendable of you dear lady. Well your home is certainly defensible and you're willing to let the young and the old stay in here?" said Edmund, shuffling out of the door so he might stand up.

"Of course sir," Airom looked slightly offended.

Midday came and the villagers and the army pooled food for a decent meal before they went to hunt down their foes. The Dogs had returned to the village with news of where they'd tracked the rag-tag group too and the leader, Howl (a nickname so given because his true name was a mixture of barks, growls and a long howl, not something a human could say quickly or with any sense of dignity), had made several comments on the odour of minotaurs. That had caused a quick meeting since Minotaurs were strong and hard to kill and they'd have to adjust their plans for one or two. Howl hadn't been able to confirm if there was more than one, just that they stunk, since the Dogs hadn't dared to get too close to the cave they were hiding in, lest the Wolves decide to come out and attack them.

Though the square was silent, save for the sounds of eating, nobody heard or saw the guards posted outside the village proper fall.

* * *

With the sun high overhead Harry finally caught sight of the village. That was good, he was hungry and so was Steadfast. It had only taken a couple of hours after getting up for him to get hungry enough to eat the rest of his supply of food, something which he was regretting now as his stomach complained more. Steadfast seemed to be flagging as well, especially since they'd sped up once the tracks got deeper to try and keep up. They'd fallen back to a trot after a while, but a faster one than they'd been going at even if Harry had to cling on to the reins harder to stop himself falling off.

The village was within easy sight, he could see the large group of people between the houses, when he saw creatures coming towards it. A faun, standing outside the village fell silently with an arrow sticking out of him and the creatures charged into the village proper. Sudden terror struck Harry and he kicked Steadfast hard, startling the pony into an all out gallop. He'd never galloped before and grabbed a handful of the pony's mane to keep himself on. He had to get to that village.

The first Wolf leapt on a sitting faun, snapping her neck with a twist of its jaws and disengaging to plunge into the next victim only to be met with a centaur's iron clad hooves to its face, smashing its skull. More came through the gaps between the houses, taking down creatures in the process of getting up. Susan's first arrow hit home in the ribs of another Wolf, Lucy's skimmed a goblin and she growled before nocking another. A ghoul and a Wolf had cornered some of the Hares against one of the houses and Peter ran across the crowded battlefield and plunging Rhindon through the back of the Wolf's neck, pulling it out to strike at the ghoul who darted backward to avoid it – dropping a young dead Hare from its claws. Peter took a step toward it, stumbling over the Wolf's body only for the ghoul to fly at him, it hit his left arm. Its weight forcing his arms back, Rhindon was behind its body. Its yellow teeth snapped inches away from his face. The rancid breath made him choke, its claws raking the chainmail on his back as he tried to push it away. Suddenly it became deadweight, falling away, and Peter saw Edmund pull his sword from its back. Together they headed back into the battle.

The archers had formed up with their backs against a house and let loose arrows when they could be sure to hit a foe. They didn't see the Wolf who'd clawed his way onto the roof of the house until he landed on the back of the centaur archer, claws digging into the weak points of his armour. With a shout the centaur reared, trying to throw the unwanted passenger off but the Wolf clung on, claws hooked under the armour. The other archers dived out of the way as the centaur hit the ground, rolling on top of the wolf to a series of sickening cracks.

Then the Minotaurs entered the village. The Dogs, baying for blood after killing a Wolf, leapt on one of the three. It struck out wildly with its battle-axe, hitting one in the ribs and knocking two or three more off, only for them to jump back on. One tore at the back of its legs, jaws slathered in blood as with a roar the Minotaur hit the ground, a tendon severed, only to be torn at by the rest of the Dogs. Edmund, having been separated from Peter shortly after finding him, found himself face to face with a minotaur while the last one engaged a centaur. The brute struck out with its mace, catching Edmund's sleeve even as he dodged and leaving a serious dent in the ground when it missed. He struck out, catching its side a glancing blow before he had to launch himself backwards as the mace whistled through the air at head height. Lucy, spotting that her brother was in trouble, nocked an arrow and shot. It hit the Minotaur in the side of the shoulder, letting Edmund slash the creature's chest. The blade bit deep and came away bloody but, though he could see the blood now matting its light brown fur, it had no effect. Lucy had no time to help her brother any further as a goblin had gotten close enough to slash through her bowstring; she cast away the bow and drew her dagger. The shot didn't seem to have much effect either, the minotaur still wielded the mace with just as much power as it swung it in a series of wide arcs, designed to drive Edmund back or else disembowel him. He tried catching the swinging mace with his sword only to find himself greatly outmatched in terms of strength, he disengaged momentarily and backed away further, his sword arm aching.

* * *

It was to a courtyard filled with death and blood that Harry arrived. Steadfast was blowing hard, exhausted from the sprint at the end of a long ride, and Harry was thrown enough off balance by the rather sudden stop to go over Steadfast's shoulder and land on the ground. Most were paying more attention to their own struggle for life or death to notice the arrival of one little boy, only a Wolf gorging on a dead faun smelt the new meat. She came stalking towards Harry, who was struggling to get up after having the breath knocked out of him, and though Steadfast was worn from the journey prey instincts took over and he ran. A tiny human, all soft and small, would be better than a pony who stunk of sweat and still had its thick winter coat, the Wolf decided and bent down to drag her next meal away from the rest. Only to be nailed in the base of the head by Susan's arrow. It collapsed on top of Harry, weight driving what little breath he'd regained from his lungs. Susan ran over and dragged him out from under the Wolf's carcass. She pulled him behind a house, away from the sight of battle.

"Stay here," she said, voice hard.

Edmund prodded the Minotaur with the butt of a spear he was using as an impromptu crutch to make sure it was really dead. Though he'd managed to inflict several deep wounds, plus Lucy's arrow, it had just kept on going until a second arrow, this time a stray one had given him enough time to slash out at its legs taking it down. It had still caught him a surprise blow to the thigh with the mace, though it hadn't had enough leverage or power to cause any serious damage (or at least he hoped so) right before he'd plunged his sword through its chest. The battle had died down, with those who were fit too pursuing the fleeing enemy. Those who weren't too badly injured went between the bodies, differentiating comrade from foe and the living from the dead.

Already Lucy was running wherever she was hailed, administering her cordial to those in greatest danger first and working her way up to those who were still standing. She ignored minor injuries, focusing only on the ones which could not be healed through any other method. She cornered Edmund and insisted on setting his leg to rights, apart from that he only had a couple of scratches, which meant that by the time Peter returned from the rout the entire surviving army was on their feet. Some were moving the bodies of the enemy outside the village proper and laying out fallen friends in the square. About three dozen (36) were dead of the hundred the Pevensies had brought from the Cair and the villagers who had numbered just over two score (40).

Once Lucy had finished healing she joined her brothers and sister, curious as to why Susan was looking so grim. When she beckoned them to follow her they did, without question, thinking she'd discovered another victim, only to find when they rounded the edge of a house that a very grubby, very tired and slightly bloody Harry sitting with his back against the wall. The three Pevensies stared down at the little boy who refused to meet their eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Edmund managed to say after a moment. Harry had had people looking after him, he should have been able to wander off let alone follow them for two days and turn up on a battlefield.

"Didn't want you to leave," Harry mumbled. He'd blown it, they were angry with him and now they'd never stay and he'd have to go back to the Dursleys after all. Lucy fell to her knees and hugged him, which surprised him a little.

"We wouldn't have left if we'd the choice," she said, hugging him tighter despite the chainmail, "we had to stop those people doing worse than what they did here."

As the adrenaline of battle began to wear off the other three Pevensies sat down behind the house, Lucy let Harry go a little but kept her arms around her.

"How did you get here?" Susan said.

"I rode," said Harry, still quiet and still refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

"Where's Steadfast now?" Lucy said, she didn't think she'd seen Harry's pony around but the battle and clean up had been rather hectic.

"I think the wolf scared him off," Harry said.

"Wolf!" the three who hadn't seen the Wolf try to eat Harry exclaimed.

"I killed it," Susan said, "but not before it nearly had him."

"Harry," Peter said solemnly, "you could have been killed, you've probably worried a lot of people and you might have lost your pony."

"I know," said Harry, beginning to cry quietly, "I'll go back to the Dursleys if you want me too."

"No"

"Never"

"I won't let you"

"No," all four spoke at once and Lucy tightened her arms around Harry.

"We don't want you to go Harry," Peter continued, speaking deliberately and in a calm tone "but you scared us and you could have gotten yourself hurt. We're angry with you because we care about you and we don't want you hurt, that's why you were supposed to stay behind."

"Oh," said Harry in a very small voice, looking up for the first time, "I'm sorry."

"That's okay," said Susan, "but you're going to have to apologise to the people at Cair Paravel and you won't be riding Steadfast for a while," she looked at her siblings to see if they agreed and got surreptitious nods from the other three. None of them wanted to be too harsh because of what Harry had seen, the reason he'd come after them and the fact that he was still sort of operating under his former system of more than slightly abusive punishments. That and he seemed genuinely remorseful and guilty.

It was just then when a centaur stuck his head around the edge of the house

"I was told I might find Your Majesties," he noticed Harry sitting next to Lucy and hastily added, "and Your Highness, around here. A couple of the Dogs just brought a pony back to the village. Would I be right in thinking it is Prince Harry's pony?"

"Yes," said Susan, "do make sure he gets fed and watered properly,"

"Of course my lady," the centaur bowed and trotted off.

"We need to go back out there, there's still things to sort out," said Edmund.

"Yes," said Peter, "and for one we'll have to bury all the poor souls who died and tell their families when we get back to the Cair," they all looked down at that, it was probably the worst part of being rulers of Narnia. Having to tell the spouses and family of the fallen that their mother or father, son or daughter, husband or wife wouldn't be coming home at all. The worst had been after Beruna, since so many had fallen there and they were supposed to be the heralds of a better world rather than the death of beloved family members. But even that had been tempered with good, since Aslan's resuscitation of the statues at the Witch's house had brought many a family member thought lost back to their loved ones.

"Come on then," Edmund said, getting up and trying not to look too shaky even if his leg was still killing him. Lucy's cordial might heal the wound so it might not even have happened but it couldn't do much for the bruising and residual pain. Still it would go away soon enough even if he wasn't looking forward to the ride home.

They emerged into the village square as the last of the bodies were covered with cloth. People had donated tunics, blankets and table cloths to cover them. The little ones; the remaining Hare leverets, the faunlets and two dwarf children stood around the edge of the square clinging to their parents and weeping.

"We'll have to dig graves for them," Peter said tiredly.

It wasn't until the evening that they had finished the grim task. Everyone had to pitch in, up on the top of the moor to keep the bodies away from the water, to dig the graves. The other bodies, those of the enemies, had to be put to use. A couple of the regular hunters had the bodies of the wolves and the minotaurs dragged outside the village's sight lines before they were skinned. The rest of the bodies, those that had nothing of use, were put on a pyre and burnt and the trail of acrid smoke blew back across the village.

The next morning the army rode out, the day was dreary, drizzling and grey and rather appropriate for the mood the company was in. Mostly Harry rode on Steadfast since with the more relaxed pace the pony could keep up but he'd had the occasional few hours of riding pillion with any one of the Pevensies to give Steadfast a break. They made camp near the great river before true night could settle around them and started a fire, thought dinner was silent. Harry was able to bathe and his clothes got washed and hung near the fire to dry while Harry was swamped in a tunic borrowed from Lucy for the night. By the next day the company were in slightly better spirits, helped by the fact that it was sunnier than the day before and they were closer to home although they didn't sight Cair Paravel until mid afternoon.

By the time they got to the castle the news of their return had preceded them, because there was a welcoming party headed by Tumnus waiting outside the castle for the weary warriors. Many of those waiting were not only there to welcome home their Kings and Queens but to make sure that the Prince was safe as well. Harry winced when he saw Caprasia, Ixinia and Actaeon waiting, especially when their faces lit up in relief. He hadn't realised how many people would worry about him if he left. The four Pevensies dismounted, with Harry following their lead, and dismissed the rest of the troops to disarm and go home. They would have to make visits to the families of the fallen before everyone else simply returning home did so for them.

"I think Harry needs a proper hot bath and a decent meal," Susan said to Caprasia, snapping the faun matron out of the panic-free reverie she'd slipped into after finding out that Harry was alive and well.

"Of course my lady," Harry went quietly with her. They were heading down the corridor to Harry's room when he stopped.

"I'm sorry I left," said Harry quietly.

Early spring faded into late spring and on into summer and that particular incident was mostly forgotten about. But if Harry was supervised more than he had been then nobody said anything. Eventually Harry was allowed to start riding Steadfast again. Birthdays came and passed and the closer it came to the day Harry had appeared in Narnia the more curious the Pevensies got as to Harry's birthday. He hadn't mentioned it and any attempts to ask had simply provided an answer of 'I don't know'.

"He doesn't know when his birthday is," Susan told her siblings

"Well he must _have_ a birthday," Lucy said vehemently.

"If he doesn't know when his real birthday is, couldn't we just use the day he came here as his birthday?" said Edmund.

"That sounds like a good idea Ed," Peter said.

"I suppose it was the start of a new beginning for him," said Susan. They decided eventually to surprise Harry with a party on that date rather than tell him in advance and even wrote to King Lune to ask if Corin could come up to Narnia for the party. The two greeted each other as brothers and once again the castle had to deal with the two getting into any kind of mischief that could be gotten into.

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**I'm pretty sure this is the biggest chapter I've posted. I'm not even going to bother giving you a date for the next update because I'll probably break it anyway.**

**Auf Wiedersehen**


	8. Chapter 7: The Nature of Minotaurs

**I am consistently amazed at my readers. Even now, with updates scarce on the ground I still get messages saying that somebody new has favourited this, or put it on alert or reviewed it. This month alone I've had readers. You guys are wonderful, and you really deserve somebody who updates far more frequently, but I promise I'll try to be better.**

**This chapter contains what I hope will be one of the few significant timeskips. I hate employing them because it feels like cheating, but I am also quite bad at writing small children so I'm quickly progressing to older children. **

**Disclaimer: As ever, Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. **

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It wasn't until the next summer, when Harry was five and a half, that the Pevensies had to go off again to fight. This time Susan decided that she would stay behind, since the sighting had all been minotaurs which meant that archers would not be as useful – that and what had happened last time all four of them went off still weighed on her mind. During the week and a half that Peter, Edmund and Lucy were away she made sure to play with Harry more and to keep a constant eye on him. When they came back their entire force was still alive and they had added a number of minotaurs to it. Youngsters were grabbed by the nearest parent, or whoever was looking after them, and forced away from the group heading up the main street, many ducked into houses or down into alleys and the news that they were being attacked by Minotaurs who had the royal family hostage reached the castle within moments.

When the small force arrived back at Cair Paravel they found themselves met with archers waiting on the ramparts. Susan stood at the heart of the archers, her own bow drawn.

"You betrayed us," one of the Minotaurs bellowed, his hand going to the axe slung across his back.

"Susan!" Peter shouted up, "stand down, they're friends." Susan held up a hand and the bows went down, arrows loosening but no one was quite ready to put them away. She disappeared, obviously hurrying down to the ground floor and after a few moments the gates opened. Harry stood next to her, face glowing with happiness and the three other Pevensies dismounted so they could greet him with hugs.

"Susan, Harry," Edmund began, "we'd like you to meet Asterion and his friends," the Minotaur who'd shouted gave a little half-bow.

"Hallo," Harry walked over to stand in front of the minotaur and offered his hand unafraid, despite the fact that the minotaur was at least twice his height, "I'm Harry," Peter and Edmund couldn't help their hands straying towards their sword hilts when Asterion reached out and very carefully shook the little boy's hand. Harry's entire hand couldn't fully wrap around even one of the Minotaur's thick fingers but they managed.

"It is good to meet you Prince Harry," Asterion said in a deep rumble

"How did we come to ally with Minotaurs?" Susan said to Peter quietly

"We'll tell you all once we're inside, it's a rather good story," Peter said, just as quietly, but he raised his voice for all to hear, "shall we go in for lunch?"

Inside a light lunch had hurriedly been prepared and a table set out that they hoped could hold half a dozen Minotaurs. Harry had chattered to Asterion and, despite the worried looks thrown their way, the Minotaur seemed quite happy to answer any question the boy could think of. He all but dragged Asterion to sit next to him and Lucy took the seat on the other side; though the wooden benches groaned when the Minotaurs sat on them they held.

"So how did you come to be friends?" Susan asked

"Well, when we got to where the Minotaurs were reported we found them living peacefully as a community and no threat to anyone. When we went in under a flag of truce they told us that they had to live apart from everyone else in Narnia because many of them joined the Witch's army and so now everyone is afraid of them or hates them…" Edmund told her

"And that's not fair," Lucy interjected

"And that's not fair," Edmund continued, "so we asked if a delegation of them would like to come to Cair Paravel so we can try and re-integrate them into Narnian society,"

"So here we are," said Asterion.

None of the Minotaurs had much to do, many of those who had travelled out to fight them had become friendly with them and introduced them around but Harry, who had become very fond of Asterion, hauled the Minotaur around like a rather large, very dangerous teddy. Susan gently pulled the Minotaur aside while Harry was busy

"You know you can say no to him," she said quietly, there had been worries expressed about how safe it was to ally with Minotaurs which had been allayed somewhat when they'd seen Harry's relationship with the leader of the minotaurs. Despite that, there was a general opinion that it could not have been particularly interesting for the minotaur to be treated like a playmate to a child - and a worry that the minotaur might hurt their only heir by accident.

"It's quite alright," the Minotaur answered, "he reminds me of my own son, always curious about everything."

"You have children?" Susan said, trying to imagine just what a young Minotaur must look like.

"Just the one, my son Sarpedon. He's six winters old and the reason I fought in the war," Asterion said candidly, Susan looked at him curiously – most of the minotaurs there were old enough to have fought for the witch but none of them had mentioned it, "once the Witch had enough of us on her side that she thought she ought to have the rest she began threatening those of us who were more reluctant, she wouldn't turn us to stone because we were the ones who were supposed to fight but she'd threaten our families. Sarpedon was only two years old, though we counted by moons when we had no seasons to mark the passing of a year, and she threatened to turn him to stone unless my wife and I fought."

"We never knew," Susan said weakly

"He wasn't the only one; once the Witch was dead we found that most of those who had been taken had been held in her camp, for ease of execution. Those of us who hadn't wanted to fight headed back to the camp, took them and headed for the hills before your side found where the camp was. We took all of them that were there, even the ones we didn't know, because we didn't know what you'd do to them." Harry interrupted the conversation rather tactlessly by demanding Asterion's attention and with a wry smile (or as much of one as his face could manage) the Minotaur happily followed the young prince away.

Eventually the Minotaurs were assimilated into the day to day life of the castle, when the invitation was extended to all those who had lived in the camp many accepted but a few chose to go back and live quietly in the hills. Soon enough Harry's playmates included Asterion's son and other little Minotaurs. The games became a little more rough and tumble and there were a few more injuries as the Minotaurs learnt how to deal with those who weren't as strong as they were but eventually seeing a Minotaur became simply another day-to-day occurrence.

Towards the beginning of autumn, though before any gold or red had begun to touch the leaves of the trees, Lucy found herself approached by Actaeon while on a walk.

"Forgive me my lady for intruding," the centaur bowed.

"Oh it's no problem my good centaur," Lucy replied, "I was just admiring Narnia's beauty."

"Of course my lady. I find myself with a certain issue regarding my young charge," Lucy noticed his tail swishing and a hoof pawing at the ground.

"Harry's not being naughty is he?" Lucy said, though why he would have approached her about that she didn't know. The few times Harry needed to be punished the four of them worked it out as a family, though those incidents had been few and far between fortunately.

"No my lady, he seems to be having problems with his vision. I put a large map up on the wall to help him with some problems to do with distance and supply and he was unable to read some of the names on it from where he sits. At first I thought he might be playing a trick of some kind, since he had to get up and walk to the map several times during our lesson but when nothing happened I thought I might speak to you," the centaur spoke gravely, "mayhap he has somehow hurt his eyes?"

"Not that I know of," said Lucy, twining her fingers together as she pondered it, "but my cordial might heal whatever is wrong with his eyes. Thank you Actaeon for bringing this to my attention," the centaur bowed again and walked off.

It took Lucy some time to get her cordial and track Harry down, he was in the library, curled up in a chair and slowly reading through a book.

"Harry," Lucy called, he looked up and smiled at her. She perched on the arm of the chain, "Actaeon told me about what happened today?"

"I couldn't see some of the words, I don't know why," Harry said, his voice wavered a little.

"I don't know why either," Lucy said, stroking his hair, "but my cordial might help if you'd like."

"Yes please," Harry said, setting his book aside and looking up at her.

"Alright, can you tip your head back and keep your eyes open," Harry did so and Lucy readied the cordial, "I'm sorry if this hurts."

"It's okay," Harry said. Lucy took a moment and then carefully dripped a drop into Harry's right eye. He flinched but didn't blink and Lucy repeated the action with Harry's left eye, wincing as he flinched again. After both had been done Harry waited a couple of breaths and then began to blink rapidly, rubbing at his eyes.

"Has it worked?" Lucy said, looking down at him.

"I don't know," Harry said. Then, with no warning, Harry jumped from the chair and sent the book tumbling from the arm of the chair, he grabbed Lucy's hand and began to pull her out of the library. The two of them ran down corridors, dodging the palace staff who looked at them curiously. Harry skidded to a stop outside the room he usually had his lessons in, it took Lucy a few more steps to slow down without tripping over the hem of her dress and by that point Harry was already inside the room and sitting down at the small table that was there. "I can see everything, even the stuff that was too small to see before!" Harry said, grinning. He jumped up from the desk and hugged Lucy, knocking her back half a step.

Harry's third Christmas in Narnia passed with just as much gaiety as the first two had, Harry returned to the castle covered with snow again after a snowball fight and there was a failed attempt to make a snow centaur. The Minotaurs enjoyed their first proper Christmas where they didn't have to worry about freezing to death or food. Father Christmas left Harry a fine wooden practice sword and shield (as opposed to the ones in his toy box which were only for play) and a padded jerkin, though the sword and shield were taken off of him shortly thereafter by Edmund since he'd started waving them around and nearly hit someone.

"Isn't he a little young to learn?" Susan said, worried. Lucy had only been some two years older than Harry at the Battle of Beruna.

"We're not going to send him into battle just yet Su," Peter joked, "but he's been watching us practice and he wants to learn, better to teach him before he does anyone harm," in fact Harry _had_ maybe secretly tried out some of the moves he'd seen on the practice courts in his bedroom with his toy sword. Mostly he hadn't knocked anything over and he'd felt very impressive while swinging the sword around.

Despite it being winter Peter and Edmund brought Harry into the indoor practice courts a few days after Christmas to begin working with him. Although they'd had a lot of instruction, which was on-going, in the beginning they'd had to adapt a lot of the moves used by centaurs and fauns who were used to having power, height or the ability to jump behind them. Not to mention the footwork was completely different. When they'd gone to Archenland for the first time they'd been able to pick up more moves and some better footwork (the master swordsman at Anvard had had a small breakdown when he saw how bad their footwork was), something they continued to do every time they visited. They'd started late for swordsmen and after they'd been trounced the first time by the master swordsman the bravado of Beruna had fallen away. Even if they weren't the best teachers they could at least give him some basics, he'd learn more if he went to Archenland.

Harry enjoyed the drills, even if the practice sword was heavier than his toy one and his arms hurt by the end of it. But Peter and Edmund were good teachers and they would go over something again and again until he got it and could keep the sword up. The footwork was odd and felt forced, but they said he'd have to practice that a bit more before it felt natural. It also went a lot slower than he expected, and their attacks were called out, slow enough for him to block properly and always moves that he knew so it didn't feel much like a decent sword-fight, or at least what he imagined would be a good sword fight. Even hitting the dummies that they had provided wasn't quite as fun as he had imagined, especially since he was just as likely to be told to do the move again since he'd done it wrong. When Peter and Edmund weren't able to be there he learnt from the fauns and centaurs. Between learning to fight and his lessons, which were getting easier now that his reading and writing were much better but more difficult in that his tutors expected him to know more the time he had to go and play around was getting less.

By the time spring came around and the outdoor practice arenas were usable again Harry was fairly good at the basics of the sword fighting drills and he was introduced to the others who were learning how to use a sword. Surprisingly both Turnus and Sarpedon were learning to use swords, though they were both advanced enough that they got to practice against others, albeit slowly and with the moves and blocks called out by the instructors. One of the Minotaurs had joined the team of instructors, mostly because some of the young Minotaurs had joined the ranks of Narnia's future soldiers and it was easier for a Minotaur to teach them. There was unarmed combat as well, though it was mostly just holds and some wrestling.

With Harry's seventh birthday approaching the Pevensies wrote to King Lune about the suggestion he'd made on his last visit to Narnia that one or other of them might foster the other's prince. Edmund had come with the idea that the boys might spend half the year in Narnia and half in Archenland since they didn't want to completely lose Harry but he did need to get more used to people . Lune's response was very positive, especially towards the idea of sharing the responsibility of fostering. After working out the times of the year when the boys would be in Archenland and the times they would be in Narnia the Pevensies decided to inform Harry.

"Now we have to do this carefully," said Susan as she helped set out the picnic lunch, "he can't think we're sending him away,"

"Well we are sort of," Lucy said, "but not in a bad way."

"We have to make sure he knows we're not sending him away in a bad way," Susan clarified, rolling her eyes at her young sister. Lucy, being the mature just fifteen year old that she was, stuck her tongue out at her older sister's condescension, "and that he knows we still care about him."

"Okay, but how are we going to tell the boys about this," said Lucy, looking up as Peter, Edmund and Harry approached from the practice courts. All three looked like they'd just dumped water over their heads to clean off the sweat and grime from training, mostly because Peter and Harry both had water still dripping from their noses and all three of them were grinning childishly. Harry bounced down onto the blanket next to Lucy and started chattering about what they''d done in training.

"Oh and thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me go and stay with Corin for months," Susan and Lucy glared at their brothers.

"We couldn't help it," said Peter, holding his hands up defensively.

"As I recall," Edmund said, "you were the one who couldn't help it and told him" Peter elbowed Edmund, who laughed and shoved him back. Harry giggled at their antics and stole a tart off of Peter's plate, stuffing it into his mouth.

About a week later Harry, Edmund and Lucy set out for Archenland on the Splendour Hyaline, it was high summer and the passage to Archenland would have been easy enough on land but it would have taken longer. Instead they'd decided to sail through Glasswater and around to near Anvard, although they would have to ride between the coast and the castle. On hearing that they would be sailing Harry had been ridiculously excited since, while he'd seen the ships in the harbour, there had never been a need in the three years he'd been in Narnia to take the more impressive ships out to sea and he'd never got permission to go out in one of the fishing boats. The sailors of the Splendour Hyaline had had to put up with the prince asking endless questions about ships, climbing up and down the rigging and running around the decks. Or at least for the few days up until the voyage began and they got out of the shallower waters. It was about then that Harry turned rather green about the gills and had to run to the railing to vomit up his breakfast.

"I'm sorry Harry," Lucy said, "I didn't bring my cordial, it's only for emergencies and this route is easy," it was, in fact the ship wasn't rocking particularly much. Unfortunately that didn't stop Harry's seasickness and the crew, many of whom had been getting ever so slightly irritated with the boy, began feeling rather sorry for him.

It was a five day voyage between Cair Paravel and Anvard without the benefit of a strong wind, that wasn't something that they had to worry about since they caught a lovely, strong south-easterly wind early and were able to follow it, which took a day and a half off of their journey meaning they arrived at the main port of Archenland after only three and a half days sailing. Edmund and Lucy honestly thought that Harry might kiss the planks of the dock, although his seasickness had eased off after the first day or so Harry had not had a comfortable voyage. Most of it had been spent below decks with the horses, since they didn't seem too happy about the voyage either only they couldn't vomit. They too came off of the ship with as much of a sense of relief as a non talking horse could convey.

While they weren't travelling incognito and those who recognised the ship from seven years before greeted Edmund, Lucy and Harry with deference, realising who they must be, they certainly weren't announcing who they were. Edmund had his sword, Lucy had her dagger and a bow and a couple of the sailors would do double duty as guards.

"Should we keep going?" Lucy said, once they were sitting at a table in one of the better inns.

"I think we could all use half a day's rest," Edmund replied, "especially you, Harry."

"What! Why?" the six year old said, pouting at Edmund. He'd refused the offer of a drink and was shifting around in his seat.

"You haven't kept much food down for the last three days," Edmund said, "and you haven't slept well. Half a day of rest will still leave us a day ahead of schedule." Harry grumbled something, but it wasn't loud enough for Edmund or Lucy to hear.

"Can I have a drink then?" he said. Within the space of a glass of beer (6) Harry was up for exploring the port. Lucy was just as ready to go exploring until Edmund reminded them that they would need a room and that Lucy, who was still wearing men's clothing out of practicality, might want to change. They agreed and, though Harry was drumming his heels in boredom, Edmund managed to secure them two rooms. It was only then that the fact that all their belongings other than the horses were still on the ship struck them.

By the end of the half day in the port Edmund was cursing the curiosity of very-nearly-seven year olds since Harry had dragged the two of them around the entire port at least twice, including the visit back to the Splendour Hyaline to get their things. The advantage to the days exertions was that by the time it came to going to bed Harry was half asleep on his feet, even the food hadn't perked him up much. Edmund had to half carry him up the stairs to their room; Lucy followed them just in case and wished them a good night, heading off to her own room.

The four of them, including the two guards, set out early the next morning, so early that the innkeeper himself hadn't been awake and it was only the lowliest of the maids who served them a cold breakfast, Lucy had slid a coin under the rim of her plate before they left. Fortunately they hadn't taken anything much out of their luggage so packing hadn't taken very long and they managed to saddle the horses without waking the other patrons so their leaving wasn't noticed. Sunrise broke just as they hit the edges of the port, the five horses and pony wound their way through streets which got narrower and more shabby until they suddenly gave way to hilly scrubland. They made good time even with the rider less packhorse which one of the guards led and having to ride up and down hills, all the time making sure they were still in the valley between the two little mountain ranges, rather than accidentally trying to climb either of them and going off course.

It took two days to get from the port town to Anvard, including the minutes Harry had made them stop when he first saw Anvard castle. The red stone castle wasn't quite as impressive as Cair Paravel but it certainly had its own charm about it, especially when Harry knew who was waiting for him in there. After his first few minutes gawking at the castle Harry was the one in the lead, heading off down the hill and towards the castle. Once they reached the town skirting the castle Harry slowed, looking around at all the people. Sure there were a few fauns, a dryad or two and even the occasional satyr but the majority were human, many of who recognised Edmund and Lucy from previous visits. Getting up to the castle was easy enough, they'd happily been given directions through the town,

Obviously by the time they got there somebody had managed to inform King Lune as both the king and a rather grubby looking Prince Corin were waiting. Corin was already seven and still taller and broader than Harry but not by as much as he had been and the hug they shared ended up with the both of them on the floor, wrestling and laughing. Lune rolled his eyes and took a fortifying breath

"Welcome to Anvard Your Majesties," Lune bowed, Edmund returned the bow and Lucy struggled for a moment then laughed and bowed as well, it was difficult to do a proper curtsey when she wasn't dressed in a skirt. Harry and Corin were standing up again, looking dustier but grinning, "should you like to join me in the castle? Corin, thou hast a sparring session to return to."

"Yes father, can Harry come along?" Corin said, sharing a glance with Harry

"If he should wish to," Lune said and the two boys ran off, Corin leading the way. He turned to Edmund and Lucy, watching the departing boys fondly, "Harry has certainly grown."

"We're very proud of him," Lucy said, "Corin's grown as well."

"Aye, and his mischief grows with him," Lune smiled and turned to lead them into the castle.

Corin and Harry skidded into the training yard to find Lord Dar leaning on the fence post.

"Welcome Prince Harry," he said,

"Hallo," Harry said, looking wildly for some indication of just who the man was. He had a few vague memories of him from the visit nearly three years ago but no idea of his name.

"I'm Lord Dar, you may see my brother Lord Darrin around but we're easier to tell apart now he's growing a beard,"

"They're identical twins," Corin hissed

"I've been teaching Corin how to fight and I'll teach you too if you'd like," Dar finished.

"Okay," Harry said brightly, "Peter and Edmund said my footwork needs work and they can't teach me much because they don't know much,"

"They've been teaching you?" Dar looked at him curiously.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"Well they're both very good swordsmen, especially given their ages, and you'll probably have the same problems they did with footwork. What works for a faun doesn't work for us, as you might have seen," Dar hadn't taught either Peter or Edmund but he had been able to watch them train the first few times they'd come to Archenland, "shall we see what you can do? There should be a padded tunic you can borrow somewhere around here."

A padded tunic and a practice sword were quickly found and Harry joined Corin's lesson. Dar asked him to demonstrate all of the moves that he knew on a dummy (a bag of sand strapped to a couple of poles) and was pleasantly surprised with Harry's breadth of knowledge as well as his technical accuracy. There were more than a few mistakes, which were to be expected, and Harry seemed to take some time to get used to an unfamiliar practice sword but Dar gave a short burst of applause once he was sure Harry was finished.

"That was very good Harry," Dar said, "some of your strokes were off and your footwork is limited but that was impressive," Corin whistled in approval from the edge of the arena.

"You can go back to practising the drill you were doing before," Dar called to Corin, who left the edge of the arena and moved to an open space where he began to practice.

There was some confusion once the practice was over since Harry didn't know where his rooms were to wash up after the exertion and the dust of training. Eventually Corin suggested that they just jump in one of the ponds in the castle gardens, which seemed to be a good enough idea until they were soaking wet and called in for lunch. Edmund and Lucy laughed at the sodden boys, dripping on the stone floor as they ate.

Edmund and Lucy departed two days after their arrival, riding back to the port. Both of them would have liked to have stayed longer and let Harry get settled in a bit more but the ambassador for Terebinthia was supposed to arrive shortly after them and they really couldn't put it off any longer. Not to mention that Harry and Corin seemed to have once again hit it off, friends as though the past three years had been only days apart, and far more concerned with their own comings and goings than those of the adults. There was no fuss as they rode away, though Harry watched them from the highest point of Anvard until he could see them no more.

They wiled away the last days of summer with training and lessons, picnics and banquets and once, to Harry's horror, much of the court rode out on a hunt. Hunting happened in Narnia, Harry knew, but Animals hunted for meat and the castle's meat came from a small herd of cows and sheep, ably kept by a Bull and a Ram (with some assistance from a couple of fauns) that roamed the coastline. He'd heard tales of the White Stag, who would supposedly grant a wish to whoever caught him, but nobody had ever mentioned killing it. He hoped all the Animals knew to stay out of the way. He and Corin weren't old enough to go hunting, because they weren't big enough to ride horses that could keep up.

Autumn blew through Archenland in a gale of wind and rain. They had to move to the indoor practice arenas but the change of environment didn't bother Harry or Corin much - both were making what Dar considered to be adequate progress, though Harry was the better with a sword Corin could take him down easily if neither of them had one. While the two of them had the occasional spat, as might be expected of two seven year old boys, they were normally as close as brothers. King Lune watched them and the presence of Harry made his heart ache - there should be two blond boys playing there, Corin should have known his brother longer than a few days. It had been over seven years but Lune still did wonder where his eldest son was and if he was even still alive. Idle fantasy certainly, he had only one son and he should focus on training Corin to be the best possible King for Archenland. The friendship between Corin and Harry was a boon, for all that he and the Pevensies shared an amiable accord and Archenland and Narnia were bound together by a shared people the ascension of Harry and Corin to their respective thrones could only mark a closeness between the two countries not seen since his ancestor Prince Col was gifted the land and made his own kingdom out of it.

Harry had found that perhaps the biggest difference between the two castles was that Anvard had many suits of armour that stood upright and were somehow held together - this had not held much interest for either him or Corin during the summer, when they only came inside when they absolutely had to. With autumn in full swing, winter approaching and their inability to go outside both of them began to find these hollow suits of armour very interesting, to the consternation of the staff who found themselves chasing the boys away from the armour with irritating regularity. Corin had never expressed any particular interest in the suits of armour until Harry had arrived, but Cair Paravel didn't have any suits of armour - mainly due to the fact that up until seven years ago there had been no humans in Narnia. The only ones they had were from the battle at Beruna, since Peter and Edmund had long outgrown them.

Which was how the two princes hatched a plan.

* * *

**Part of the reason I stopped writing this for ages was that I actually lost a whole chunk of it and that was kind of devastating. But now I'm getting myself back on track more and I seem to be back to writing so hopefully more updates kind of possibly soon-ish.**

**I should also mention, I'm looking into getting an AO3 account and uploading this there. Hopefully by the time the next chapter is ready I'll be able to give you details.**

**Until our next meeting**


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